The EU constitution: the best way forward? (original) (raw)
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The Europeanization of Ratification Procedures: Towards a EU-Wide Constitutional Convention?
… Portugués de Relaçoes Internacionais Working Paper …, 2005
he word “Europeanisation” has acquired so many meanings that it is difficult to disagree with Olsen that it is not very useful in theoretical terms (Olsen; 2001). In this context, it results unavoidable a previous clarification of the meaning in which it is used here, even though the object of this paper is not a theoretical inquiry on the concept, but rather an assessment on whether the process has happened. Europeanization means the impact of the EU on the domestic structures or, in other words, the political system. Since the object of this inquiry refers to the ratification of the EU constitution, the inquiry can be framed along the following question: what is the influence of the EU norms on domestic processes of ratification? The response is immediate. EU ratification rules do not seem prima facie to impose constraints on national ones and, hence, impact could not be easily identified. If Europeanization is defined as the transformation brought about by the impact of EU level on the national one, then, it has not happened. However, a different model of “europeanisation” has happened: member states show signs of a trend towards converging in certain models of ratification. Naturally, this does not mean that all they use the same procedures and in the same form. It means, rather, that they watch closely each other and they adopt and adapt their own ratification procedures according to the learning of what other member states have done. The paper reviews this argument in the following sections. Firstly, it examines briefly the changes that the draft constitution introduced and compares it with the American model of ratification. It then examines the three main procedures for ratification to asses whether some convergence can be appreciated. This paper discusses the three procedures used for ratification (constitutional reform, parliamentary ratification and referendums) as well as the actors involved (constitutional courts and political parties) with the aim of mapping out the eventual emergence of a “constitutional convention” on the ratification of the Constitution. The underlying inquiry seeks to establish whether ratification of the EU Constitution produces an Europeanization of procedures. It finally ponders the extent to which we can refer to “Europeanisation” of ratification procedures understood as an increased convergence among Member States.
Journal of European Public Policy, 2007
Referendums are not the most common instrument of democracy in EU member states. In spite of this, the negotiation of the EU Constitution prompted a number of governmental choices of this mechanism for ratification of the new treaty and no less than ten governments announced their intention to use it. The reasons for these choices must be looked for in domestic political circumstances and, more precisely, in the non-existence of solid parliamentary majorities and disputes within the ruling parties, as well as in the perception of an electoral advantage on the part of government parties. Additionally, the force of arguments for the need to ratify a constitution by means of a referendum and the imitation of the path followed in other countries played an important part in these choices.
Reconstituting European Democracy
Europeanization and globalization are frequently held to undermine national democracy; hence raising the question of the prospects for democracy in the multilevel constellation that makes up the European Union. The article presents three new models for how democracy can be reconstituted: through combining representative national democracy and an EU functional regulatory regime based on audit democracy; through establishing the EU as a multi-national state based on a common identity(ies) and solidaristic allegiance strong enough to undertake collective action; or through the development of a Europe-regional democracy with an explicit cosmopolitan imprint. The models have been developed through applying the basic requirements of a democratic order to the complex, multilevel structure of European governance. We find that this is best accomplished through developing three original configurations. The ensuing three-model framework offers a conceptual-democratic map to help orient the deb...
The Effects of Ratification on EU Constitutional Politics
2008
One of the features of constitutional reform processes is strong approval rules that create a number of veto players. Their existence creates a burden for an extensive use of the reform procedures. But also and contrary to the hypothesis that may be induced from this fact, empirical evidence shows that constitutional reforms do happen and, even more, they happen often.
Cambridge University Press ("The Crisis behind the Euro Crisis - The Euro Crisis as a Multidimensional Systematic Crisis of the EU"), 2019
During the long history of European unification, several referendums have taken place and most of them proved to be rather historic. Some European demoi-but certainly not all of them-were occasionally given the chance to map their own route through the processes of European enlargement and integration. They have decided upon their own integration, upon other States' membership or even upon treaty ratifications. They have even rejected-in France and the Netherlands-the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. More recently, in Greece, they rejected a working document concerning a European 'rescue plan' in the midst of the Euro-crisis while, in 2016, the United Kingdom voted upon its own future in the Union. The present chapter analyses the European institutions' reactions to these national referendums on European issues, especially when people gave a seemingly 'wrong' answer (from a European-integration point of view). Reversing the 'no' votes and reviewing a posteriori national referendums through divers processes often led by unelected technocrats has become a common place in modern Europe, given that even the Treaty of Lisbon itself probably suffers from this kind of democratic-legitimacy deficit. Finally, the chapter examines more broadly the question of direct-democracy mechanisms within the Union questioning the non-existence of any kind of pan-European referendum. While most scholars and politicians are still questioning the existence of a European demos, the present study insists more on the absence of those mechanisms which would allow this demos to be heard; to officially declare its will and determine its own fate. The modern European crisis is, thus, seen as only a sign of a much broader crisis of identity and democratic legitimacy taking place within the European Union. As long as the Union keeps ignoring its own demos-and sometimes even the rare national referendums on European questions-there is no future for either European common identity or democracy.