When European studies scholars discuss the European Union (EU)’s institutional structure, they usually stress its sui generis supra- or trans-national nature, and sometimes even indulge in a post national trope (reminiscent of a broader de-nationalization and de-territorialization trend in international relations). Provided they look at the State and do not disparage it as a thing of the past, it is usually as a static political unit, acting as an agent of EU law, and sometimes, albeit more rarely (even among federalists), as a model for the institutionalization of the EU itself. European integration would not have been possible without a simultaneous evolution of the State itself, however. This is true of EU Member States as much as of other States participating in the broader project of European integration, like Switzerland. This mirroring relationship has been famously exemplified in discussions pertaining to the EU’s and States’ sovereignty, constitutionalism or democracy. Interestingly, the European State has now returned to the fore in European debates. The questions the 2018 ECSA-CH Annual Conference would like to broach pertain therefore to the state of the European State today.