Lecture 4 The Constitutional and Lisbon Treaty

0. 1
Context
4.1 for the Development of the
Constitutional Treaty

4.2
The Idea of a European Constitution

4.3 Treaty and Afterwards

Lisbon
2
 Context for the Development of
4.1 the Constitutional Treaty
1.1 Summary of Key Points

Before continuing to look into some of the main features of the abandoned
Constitutional Treaty and the present Lisbon Treaty, it is useful to take
stock of some key points

The failure of the Constitutional Treaty can be seen as connected with

some of the issues that were left over from the situation the EU found itself
in post-Maastricht
The Constitutional Treaty project took place in a
context significantly different from the
environment that had shaped the Treaty of Rome
which first set up the EEC

It was even very different from the environment

that has shaped the Single European Act

The key point were the fundamental questions

that were being asked concerning the legitimacy
of the EU
 2 The German
Supreme Court
decision at the
time of the
ratification of the
The questions
1 The popular Maastricht
surrounding the
referendums that decision (Brunner
legitimacy of the
narrowly v The European
EU were drawn
accepted or Union Treaty
attention to by
refused [1994] 1 CMLR
two events in
Maastricht 57) provided a
particular
fundamental
judicial challenge
to the democratic
credentials of the
EU
It is important to note that this challenge was based on the
idea that democracy is not just about institutions and
procedures but on the existence of shared cultural norms that
allow for debate and acceptance of decisions
The subsequent course of events that follow on from Maastricht
are paradoxical

On one hand, questions of legitimacy hung over the EU

On another, the pace of integration was maintained on key

points like EMU and the EU began an ambitious process of
enlargement
 The Idea of a European
4.2 Constitution

.2
4.3 Lisbon Treaty and Afterwards