The European Union And Its Constitution

The European Union and its Constitution explores the political and legal status of the EU and addresses a number of assumptions.

This book departs from the 'statist' imagination by suggesting the EU is a federal union of states, or a federation. Dedicated to the constitutional theory of federalism, this book gives the strengths and weaknesses of a federation as a political form, its histories, and current perils for the EU.

'I can enthusiastically recommend and endorse this book. It serves the very important purpose of collecting key documents together in an elegant and accessible text. There currently exists a huge proliferation of material on the EU Constitution this volume makes a very wise selection of this profusion, compiling it into a manageable and informative whole. Nine chapters deal with the most significant matters concerning the Constitution. A short but well written introduction at the start of each chapter precedes following extracts. Part of the value of this book lies in the fact that it includes translations of some important documents which are difficult, or impossible, to access in English for example, recent decisions of national courts concerning the European Arrest Warrant. All in all, this work is a comprehensive, but not overwhelmingly large, collection of materials on the EU Constitution, and it will prove extremely valuable to all those working within this area of law. By presenting the Constitution, the background to the Constitution, and the issues it deals with, in this clear and informative way, it will shed new light upon, and help all of us to form our own judgements on, the EU Constitution, and its importance to our lives.' Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, King's College London, UK 'Whatever the ultimate fate of the EU's Constitutional Treaty, both the events which led to its conclusion and those which occurred afterwards during its ill-fated ratification process have profoundly shaped the future of the European Union as a constitutional project. This collection of materials offers an invaluable set of resources for understanding these events, in their widest legal and political context. The text will be useful to all those who seek to understand both why the EU has reached such a turning point, and where it might go in the future.' Jo Shaw, Edinburgh Law School, UK This book offers a selection of materials that enable a better understanding of some of the most important changes that would be introduced by the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in the EU legal and political system. It also helps to assess the need for the reforms embedded in the Constitutional Treaty as well as the quality of the formulations agreed upon by the signatory Member States. The book includes excerpts of the European Convention's work, selected statutory and constitutional provisions of the Member States, and also related passages from pertinent court decisions from both European courts as well as Member States' constitutional courts. Institutional and doctrinal analyses and relevant excerpts from the Constitutional Treaty itself are also included. Many of these documents directly relate to the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty, while the others, although not directly related, are nevertheless relevant to the debate surrounding it. The European Constitution, by two of the best experts on the Constitution for Europe, will be of great interest to researchers and teachers in the fields of European Law and European politics, and also to policy makers in European affairs.

This book provides a general introduction to the European Union (EU) as an ever closer union of states and peoples. It describes how, from its origin in 1958 as an economic community of six states, the EU has grown into a political entity of 25 states with a population of more than 450 million. It also explains the constitution-making process that is currently taking place—with a draft constitution now being submitted for ratification by the 25 member states. The book shows how the distinctive features of a democratic polity that characterize the separate EU member states are gradually replicated in the European Union and how the Union is on its way to becoming a democratic polity of its own kind. Van Gerven writes from a legal perspective, with an eye to political theory and recent American and European history, and with a diverse readership from both sides of the Atlantic in mind.

Europeans have long sought to form "an ever closer union" through the European Union and its predecessors. Can a closer union be based on the constitutional treaty signed at the June 2004 summit meeting? What will it mean for Americans? This volume offers perspectives on these questions as it reviews the process by which the treaty was concluded, compares it to the American constitution, and discusses the treaty's prospects for passage. Contributors include Stefan Fröhlich (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), Stephen Breyer (associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court), Robert Cottrell (Financial Times), Esther Brimmer (Center for Transatlantic Relations), Günter Burghardt (Delegation of the European Commission to the U.S.), and Lamberto Dini (senator, Republic of Italy).

Translated by Ciaran Cronin. In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence of the European Union. There is a growing realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states. Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.

The European Union is now entering a crucial phase as the ratification process accelerates and key debates and referenda take place in existing and potentially new member states. The Union’s Constitutional treaty is often cast as either a blueprint for a centralized and protectionist super-state or as the triumph of Anglo-Saxon economics. Yet it has been little read, particularly in the United Kingdom. This book puts this right by publishing the full text of the crucial first part of the document and showing that it does not justify either of the extreme interpretations imposed on it. Written by two experts of the treaties, Understanding the European Constitution sets the Constitutional Treaty in context, examining its main themes and content and considering the implications of any rejection. It does this in uncomplicated language and with the help of explanatory tables and a glossary. Those who wish to make a considered verdict on the basis of the facts will find it invaluable.

Law, Politics and Society is the sixth and latest addition to the European Union Studies Association series, State of the European Union. The contributors of this volume take the dynamic interaction between law, politics and society as a starting point to think critically about recent developments and future innovations in European integration and EU studies. The book provides an overview of key events between 2000 and 2002 in the European Union, while illuminating how these institutional (formal legal) developments impact ordinary individuals and EU politics. For example, the European Convention with the possibility of an EU constitution is viewed not only as a new institutional development, but we examine what impact the creation of judicially enforceable rights has for Europeans and European integration. How does the opportunity for new rights claims alter the balance of power between individuals and EU organizations, such as the European Court of Justice, vis à vis national governments in EU policy expansion? Importantly, the volume also seeks to provide a unique and interdisciplinary approach to studying the European Union by bringing together both legal scholars and political scientists. Chapter contributors offer readers both sophisticated theoretical and empirical accounts of these new developments. Issues such as enlargement, immigration reform, and monetary union require not only a precise understanding of an increasingly complex set of formal legal rules (the domain of legal scholars), but equally important are the effects on ordinary citizens and political participation (the very power struggles that concern political scientists). This volume seeks to integrate these two approaches, not only by including the scholarship in a single volume, but by asking individual contributors to think outside their respective disciplines. The division between the legal and political, as many would argue, is often both artificial and unproductive. Our volume seeks to bridge this divide.

This books provides a contextual analysis of the constitution of the European Union which, unlike most constitutions, does not belong to a state. Rather, the EU is an international organization that has moved beyond the features of international law into a terrain very close to the municipal law of federal states. Many features we take for granted in nation-states are non-existent, or contested, in the Union. There is no European Union constitutional text in the proper sense; the “Constitutional Treaty” signed by the Member States in 2004 failed spectacularly in the process of popular ratification. The Union's founding texts were international treaties – international law, not constitutional law. And yet, over time, legal doctrine put into place by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has led to constitutional attributes of Union law, and political practice, led by the Commission, has mirrored these attributes, complementing a de facto constitutionalist environment. As a consequence, we have seen a steady re-ordering of the functional boundaries of the Member States, followed by a nascent re-ordering of the imagined boundaries of political community and self. All of this is constitutionalism writ large: legal doctrines, institutional arrangements, political practices, and their implications for legitimacy, democracy, and political self-imagination, and together they form the subject of this fascinating book.

Constitutionalism has become a byword for legitimate government, but is it fated to lose its relevance as constitutional states relinquish power to international institutions? This book evaluates the extent to which constitutionalism, as an empirical idea and normative ideal, can be adapted to institutions beyond the state by surveying the sophisticated legal and political system of the European Union. Having originated in a series of agreements between states, the EU has acquired important constitutional features like judicial review, protections for individual rights, and a hierarchy of norms. Nonetheless, it confounds traditional models of constitutional rule to the extent that its claim to authority rests on the promise of economic prosperity and technocratic competence rather than on the democratic will of citizens. Critically appraising the European Union and its legal system, this book proposes the idea of "functional constitutionalism" to describe this distinctive configuration of public power. Although the EU is the most advanced instance of functional constitutionalism to date, understanding this pragmatic mode of constitutional authority is essential for assessing contemporary international economic governance.