Chapter 4 The Rise and Fall of the Constitutional Treaty

1
Chapter 4 The Rise and Fall of the
Constitutional Treaty

• Cini (ed.) European Union Politics, 2nd edition
• OUP Online Teaching Resources

2
Structure of the Lecture

• A Constitutional Project for the EU?
• Drafting the Constitutional Treaty
• The Contents of the Constitutional Treaty
• Ratifying the Constitutional Treaty
• The Impacts of the Constitutional Treaty and Its
  Ratification Experience

3
A Constitutional Project for the EU?

• Past treaties as quasi-constitutional documents
• The legal status of the EU
• Addressing democracy and legitimacy of the EU
• The Constitutional Treaty was a hybrid of the
  constitutional idea and the treaty format

4
Drafting the Constitutional Treaty

• The Origin of the Constitutional Project
• The future of Europe debate in 2000
• the Laeken Declaration in 2001
• Convention on the Future of Europe
• Duration from Feb 2002 to June 2003
• President, conventionnels, civil society

5
Drafting the Constitutional Treaty

• The IGC and the European Council meetings in Dec
  2003 and June 2004
• The signing of the Constitutional Treaty on 29
  Oct 2004 by 25 member states and 3 candidate
  countries

6
The Contents of the Constitutional Treaty

• The textual contents of the Constitutional Treaty
• including Preamble, Part I, Part II (the Charter
  of Fundamental Rights), Part III (the Policies
  and Functioning of the EU), Part IV (General and
  Final Provisions), Protocols, Annexes, Final Act,
  and Declarations

7
The Contents of the Constitutional Treaty

• Important changes
• Abandoning the existing pillar structure
• Institutional reforms the Commission, the EP,
  President of the European Council, Minister of
  Foreign Affairs
• Legislative reforms double majority in the
  Council

8
Ratifying the Constitutional Treaty

• Two approaches of ratification
• Ratification by parliamentary vote(s)
• Ratification by referendum
• The ratification process
• A smooth start
• Double rejections the French and Dutch
  referendums
• Post-rejection ratification
• A period of reflection and standstill

9
The Impacts of the Constitutional Treaty and Its
Ratification Experience

• A crisis in the European Union?
• The European Council non-decision
• The Commission and the EP business as usual
• The significance of the ratification process
• Voters dissatisfaction
• Domestic political uncertainty and ratification
• The failure of the communication strategies by EU
  institutions
• The constitutional project of the EU
• waiting for possible revival