Constitution Games

Wall Street Journal Europe ^ | Monday, May 19, 2003

[WaveThatFlag]

The Convention on the Future of Europe faces a seemingly tight June 20 deadline to hand the member states a draft. But the final document will be thrashed out over many more months after that.

The extra time might clarify just what Valery Giscard d'Estaing and fellow framers plan to foist on the future Europe of 25 states and nearly 400 million people. No simple answer exists today. The European Commission and Parliament say the current proposals fail to give enough powers to Brussels. British euroskeptics call Giscard's dream a "blueprint for tyranny" by a "European superstate" run out of Brussels. The small EU members see a Franco-British ploy to reinforce national sovereignty, kill off any budding "superstate" and weaken their own influence.

[Tin-Legions]

You would think that a constitution much like the US would work well here-but that's just plain crazy! All those individual freedoms, heck, most US state, local, federal govts. just throw that document around like a cheap rag!

[Norse]

You're right about our Consitution being ignored - but still our system has been very successful and it would be beneficial if they copied ours almost exactly. Perhaps mechanisms can be installed that will enforce adherence to their Constitution...mechanisms that we don't have.

An EU state would be a great idea if they do it correctly...but so far I have serious reservations.

[C210N]

The reaction to the constitution in the States was much like what's going on now in Europe. States did not want to give
up their soverenity, and many saw a loosely-knit confederation
of states and very weak federal control of them. Of course, the
ensuing 200 years made a lot of changes.