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Executive Summary
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed in October 2004, will well equip the European Union to meet the demands of the 21st Century and the aspirations of a large majority of its citizens. Without the constitution, Europe will lack internal cohesion and external strength, and the Union’s development into a mature, post-national democracy will be halted.
Unfortunately, this constitution will not now come into force because France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom cannot ratify it, and several other member states are making no progress towards ratification. If the constitution is to be saved, it will have to be modified. There are no other options. Europe badly needs its Plan B.
By improving the 2004 treaty it is certainly possible to address many of the concerns expressed by public opinion during the ratification process. The renegotiation must be judicious, tactical and modernising. No single prescription will be sufficient to refresh the consensus around the constitutional project. Simplistic or superficial solutions have to be avoided.
The 2004 text must be ring-fenced where the consensus that lay behind it still holds good. This applies in particular to the hard core of the original treaty – that is, the constitutional provisions in Part I, none of which have proven particularly controversial during the ratification process.
The constitution needs to be restructured, however. Part II, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, would achieve greater visibility by being annexed to the constitutional treaty and accorded a unique revision procedure (new Article IV-443 bis). The Charter’s content and legal status would be unchanged...
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