The European Union is facing challenges in the 2010s, and different theories are being used to understand them. Postfunctionalism suggests that changes in European integration create disagreements, but this doesn't fully explain why integration has intensified since the Maastricht Treaty. A new intergovernmentalist explanation shows that mainstream governing parties have found ways to work around Eurosceptic challenger parties, leading to destructive disagreements within the EU. This political imbalance adds to the EU's challenges, and understanding this imbalance is important for integration theory.