European political structures are facing new challenges. The Lisbon Treaty, after so many setbacks, has come into force in a period when the economic crisis has threatened the EU’s most widely known project, the Eurozone. The effective coordination of national economic policies appears to be more necessary than ever, but it is unclear what new forms of cooperation will emerge among governments, community institutions and markets. Enlargement continues to pose a challenge, while the integration of the new members is, in many respects, still rather a hope than a reality. The EU provides economic and political stability in its close neighborhood, but failure to increase its competitiveness raises questions about its global relevance. The political and academic debates concerning the “democratic deficit” focus the attention on the issue of legitimacy in a multilevel political system, without, however, producing a coherent set of institutional reforms. Given this context, and given the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Hungarian PSA’s Annual Meeting this year focuses on European integration, broadly conceived.