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Abstract

The Convention on the future of Europe has submitted a treaty proposal creating a Constitution for Europe to the heads of State and governments of the EU’s member countries. In spite of the semantic hitches (should one refer to a treaty, a Constitution, a constitutional treaty?), this project organizes power within the Union through the structuring of institutions (even though the question of the separation of powers remains unresolved) while outlining a sharing of competence between the Union and the States, together with a mechanism to oversee the principle of subsidiarity. However, the text of the Convention does not place Europe on the path towards a fundamental union of States, i.e. a political federation, as has been underlined with the inability of Europeans to agree on questions of war and peace, and to develop a common foreign policy. In fine, it is the very question of the European identity which is at stake.

Thierry Chopin teaches at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (IEP) of Paris and works for the Robert Schuman Fundation.