Constitution and Political Identity in Europe

Abstract

An uncertain ontological as well as (in the case of identity) epistemological status characterises the issues this article is about. The Constitution exists as an international Treaty, which may or may not be ratified. According to the time[1]of writing and each individual author’s orientation in making political predictions we can even think that it will not, that the constitutional process will be disrupted and the EU come out of the subsequent crisis in a very different shape from now, perhaps even split into two concentric circles: a narrow polity of a few countries with a Constitution and a larger Common Market without political frills, least of all political identity and legitimacy. The Constitution is thus in the balance between existence and non-existence, and this circumstance can have little relevance only to those who do not see the difference between a (before ratification still incomplete) legal product of the EU-leadership (the European Council of June 2004) and a political process which is far more incomplete because of its insufficient and uncertain roots in the European constituencies. On the other hand, European identity is not only put on the same jigsaw between existence and non existence, but also reveals changing and confusing features as soon as we take it from a research field to another, from a school of thought to a different one. To make at last some steps out of this confusion, this article will thus have to provide some definition before discussing the substantive issue, i.e. the relationship between Constitution and identity[2].