Ratifying the EU Constitution: Referendums and their implications

In this article published
by Notre Europe, Carlos
Closa  analyses the (essentially political) reasons
which have led several European governments to call a
referendum to ratify the EU Constitution and shows how
risky such a choice might prove for the future of
European integration. 
 

Abstract (as published by Notre
Europe) 

At the June 2004 European Council meeting, the governments of
the 25 EU member states signed a constitutional treaty for the
European Union. This treaty had been two years in the making; it
was drafted by an unprecedented “Convention on the Future of
Europe” intended to allow input from voices not usually heard in
the European integration process including national
parliamentarians and civil society actors. From there, the draft
was subject to a nearly year-long negotiation by the member state
governments that, after fierce bargaining, eventually produced a
treaty. But the process is not over; rather it has entered its
final and perhaps most difficult phase. The text must be ratified
unanimously by the member states, each according to its own
national process. There is a real risk that the process may fail,
an outcome that would have unpredictable and potentially serious
consequences for the future of European integration. 

The author, Carlos Closa, is the Deputy
Director of the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies in
Madrid.

Click here
to read the full text