Axiology in the European Union legal and political system.

Z. Kembayev, ‘Evolution of the Idea of a United Europe: Some Legal Conclusions’ 4 Journal of Philosophy of International Law 14-27, 2013

This article examines the legal aspects of the evolution of the idea of a united Europe from ancient times to the present. It provides the periodisation of the history of the European idea and argues that throughout all historical epochs this idea developed under conditions of constant struggle between opposing visions on how to fulfil it: initially, between secular and theological concepts of universal monarchy; then, between universal monarchy and the concept of union of States; subsequently, between the concepts of union of monarchs and union of republics; and currently between confederation and federation. It is also argued that the European idea is closely related to the maintenance of international peace and security, the prosperity of all humankind and the effective protection of human rights and the vision that all States must (or at least should) comprise a common, law-governed and peaceful community.

2007

WE, THE CITIZENS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, through our legitimate political representatives which have been lawfully appointed in accordance with respective constitutional requirements of all the Member States, DRAWING INSPIRATION from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, social justice, equality and the rule of law have been irreversibly established, BELIEVING that Europe, reunited after bitter experiences, intends to continue along the path of civilization and prosperity for the good of all its inhabitants, including the weakest and the most deprived; and that it wishes to remain a continent open to culture, learning and social progress; and to strive for peace, justice and solidarity throughout the world, DETERMINED, while remaining proud of our own national identities and history, to transcend our former divisions and, united ever more closely, to forge a common destiny, DESIRING to form a more perfect Union, which shall continue and improve the work accomplished within the framework of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and the Treaty on European Union, by ensuring the continuity of the Community acquis, strengthening the protection of human rights, providing for a more democratic and transparent public life, a single voice in international relations and a common defence, HEREBY adopt the following: TREATY ESTABLISHING A CONSTITUTION FOR EUROPE "Realistic" Group 8 PART I-BASIC PROVISIONS Article 1 Establishment of the Union Reflecting the will of the citizens and States of Europe to build a common future, this Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (hereinafter referred to as the 'Constitution') establishes the European Union, on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common. The Union shall coordinate the policies by which the Member States aim to achieve these objectives, and shall exercise on a Community basis the competences they confer on it. The Union shall be open to all European States, which respect its values and are committed to promoting them together. Article 2 The Union's Values The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity, equality between woman and man and respect for cultural, religious and racial diversities prevail. Article 3 The Union's objectives 1. The Union's aim is to promote peace, its values and the well being of its peoples.

"This book should be required reading for every participant in the debate on the Lisbon Treaty" (Alan Dukes) The European Union and its Constitution explores the political and legal status of the EU and addresses a number of assumptions. The author argues that the EU is not and will not become a state and that the treatment of the EU as a democratically deficient entity is misguided. He also contends that the EU constitutional framework is neither neo-liberal nor socialist, but offers a balanced framework which does not pre-empt the political direction of EU legislative intervention. The European Union and its Constitution provides the first comprehensive analysis of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty with a view to addressing all the major concerns surrounding this new Treaty. It offers a personal and critical interpretation of the EU's complex constitution and clarifies the terms of the debate, while highlighting the inconsistencies of Eurocritics. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the subjects of European law and politics."

Athens Journal of Philosophy, 2023

The main purpose of the study is to analyze the feasibility and necessity of an EU Constitution. Briefly, the history of the draft constitution is as follows: The draft treaty aims to codify the two main treaties of the European Union-the Treaty of Rome of 1957 and the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2001). The debate on the future of Europe is believed to have begun with a speech by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin in 2000. The process began after the Laeken Declaration, when the European Convention was set up, chaired by former French President Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, with the aim of drafting a constitution. The draft contract was published in July 2003. After lengthy discussions and debates over the proposal for qualified majority voting, the final text was approved in June 2004 and signed by representatives of the Member States on 29 October 2004. The failure of the treaty in France and the Netherlands is a serious blow to the European Union because these two countries are considered to be loyal supporters of the European project. The text of the treaty was subsequently rewritten by the Amato Group, officially the Active Committee on European Democracy (ACED), a group of high-ranking European politicians. During the German presidency of the Union, a new treaty was proposed-the Treaty of Lisbon-to replace the original draft of the Constitution. On 12 June 2008, the Lisbon Treaty was also rejected in a referendum in Ireland. But if we want to look beyond history, we can ask-Why does the EU need a Constitution and how can the Constitution be the roadmap to an advanced future for the EU? The answers to this question can be found by analyzing several directions (these are the main points of the article): historical reflexivity; socio-cultural analysis of the philosophical concepts of well-known political and social philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, John Locke; the modern constellation through the prism of Jürgen Habermas and the decision to make a text as a Constitution which its aim is to reach the starting point of an entire community like the EU.

2005

for their reviews and comments. Any mistakes are to be attributed entirely to the author. The research has been made possible through funds of the Italian Ministry of University and Research (Cofin Prin 2004). 1 Enthusiasts see Habermas 2000; following the negative responses of the French and Dutch referenda, however, see Habermas 2005. For an example of optimism among Italian authors, see Palombella 2004, 2005a, 2005b: In agreement with Joseph Weiler, Palombella holds that a European constitution already exists regardless of any ratification of the constitutional Treaty. 2 See the debate on the so-called "common core" in Bussani and Mattei 2000, 2003; Van Hoecke and Ost 2000. 5 On pluralism as a liberal principle, see Zanetti 2004; and Zanetti 2003, ch.5. In this context it is clear that the Schmittian political paradigm of friend/ enemy does not fit. 6 The intellectual mechanism triggered by pluralism is that whereby only a certain amount of diversity is tolerated: that which does not clash with our own conception. A fine example is Böckenförde (1997, 50), who acknowledges "cultural multiplicity" that however has a "common cultural and spiritual fundament [gemeinsame geistig-kulturelle Grundlage] in the Christian religion, Rationalismus, the Enlightenment and unspecified "forms of civil society". 7 Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Preamble, cl. 5; see also art. I-1.3: "The motto of the Union shall be: United in diversity"; and finally Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, Preamble, cl. 3, and art. 22. 8 A similar axiological conception is argued also by Grimm (1995, 297) to deny the possibility of a European constitution.

Fordham International Law Journal, 2002

These are momentous times in Europe. The Euro has been successfully introduced, the enlargement negotiations are approaching their climax, and the European Convention ("Convention") is moving towards the drafting of a constitution for a new, continent-wide political entity. At the same time, unrest is manifest, particularly in two areas. On the one hand, many of our citizens, and not just the political elites, are dissatisfied with Europe's performance on the world stage and are concerned about the maintenance of peace and security within the Union. In these areas they would like to see a strengthened, more effective entity-"more Europe." On the other hand, their disenchantment with the long reach of European Union ("EU" or "Union") regulation in the first pillar area of economic policy is growing. The feeling of loss of local control over their destiny and a vague feeling of potential loss of identity within an ever more centralized polity is palpable. Here, they want "less Europe." In the outside world, change is also the order of the day. The ice-sheet of bipolarity, which overlaid and hid the complexity of international relations during the Cold War, is breaking up at an ever-increasing speed and revealing a world in which two paradigms are competing to become the underlying ordering principles for the new century. The traditional paradigm of interacting Nation States, each pursuing its own separate interests, with alliances allowing the small to compete with the large, is alive and well, and its proponents like Machiavelli or Churchill continue to be in vogue in the literature of international relations and the rhetoric of world leaders. At the same time, there is a school of thought which points to the growing economic and ecological interdependence of our societies and the necessity for new forms of global governance to complement national action. It is also becoming abundantly clear that the concept of a "Nation State" is often a fiction, positing as it does an identity between the citizens of a State and the members of a culturally homogenous society. For both reasons, the concept of the Nation State as the principal actor on the world stage, is called into question. The experience of the Union with the sharing of State sovereignty is clearly related to the second paradigm and also to the EU's firm support for the development of the United Nations ("U.N.") as well as other elements of multilateral governance. It would hardly be wise to suggest that any foreign policy, and certainly not that of the EU, should be based only on this paradigm. Given the recurrent threats to security, which seem to be part of the human condition expressed by some as the "inevitability of war"-the defense of territorial integrity; action against threats of aggression; and resistance to crimes against humanity such as genocide-the ability to conduct a security policy based much more on the old paradigm of interacting interests will continue to be required. That the EU needs to develop such a capability will be taken here as a given. Such a crisis-management capability will be essential to the Union, but will be distinguished here from the more long-term elements of foreign policy, which can be thought of as being designed to reduce the need for crisis management in the context of a security policy to a minimum. The crisis-management area of policy will not be treated further here. The thesis of this Essay is that the same set of political concepts can serve as a guide to the future internal development of the EU and as the basis of such a long-term foreign policy. Furthermore, it suggests that neither should be seen in terms of the balancing of interests but rather, as the expression of a small list of fundamental values. The list is as follows: (1) the rule of law as the basis for relations between members of society; (2) the interaction between the democratic process and entrenched human rights in political decision-making; (3) the operation of competition within a market economy as the source of increasing prosperity; (4) the anchoring of the principle of solidarity among all members of society alongside that of the liberty of the individual; (5) the adoption of the principle of sustainability of all economic development; and (6) the preservation of separate identities and the maintenance of cultural diversity within society. These values can be seen as the answer to the question posed both, by citizens of the Union and by our fellow citizens of the world: "What does the EU stand for?" In exploring these values we should, however, remember that in the real world there will be occasions on which Realpolitik will intrude and the interest-based paradigm will prevail.

The European Union after Lisbon, 2011

The growing systemic complexity of European political institutions, laws and administrative regulations has led to the creation of new political concepts, metaphors and legal fictions.

2007

CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Heidelberger Dokumentenserver 4.4 Conclusion: the dialectical dynamic cooperative and competitive 12 relationship of the cell´s whole and parts, basic strategy guiding intracellular and extracellular interactions, functional role: achieving and sustaining vitality 5. General conclusion on the whole and the parts in philosophy, 13 philosophy of economics and natural science/biology: According to the modern functionalist approach the parts do not constitute the whole as an end in itself. The whole and the parts: both subject to achieve common objectives, bound by the rationalism´s principle of effectiveness III. The European Union-complex network of dynamic interactions of the whole and the parts 1. The European Union, Member States and the Treaty establishing a 14 Constitution for Europe 2. The identity issue of the European Union: key-opener to the pending issue of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and to the constitutional quality essentials 3. The nation-state and the European Union are shaped by basic constituent 18 elements : Constitutional law and sovereignty of the nation-state, as well Founding Treaties on European Union and European Community having constitutional quality 4. Democratic accountability increases legitimacy 5. The repercussions of European integration on national policymaking and the 19 repercussions of national policymaking on European integration 6. The concept of the European Union under the Treaty establishing the European Union: the dynamic process character of implementing common Treaty objectives by the Member States´collectivity of jointly exercising common powers 7. Integration: the mode of cooperation between the Member States to achieve 19 common objectives through implementing explicitly and implicitly attributed powers to create an own autonomous legal order 8. The legal order of the European Community: gradually developed, playing a 19 dynamic functional role of promoting and safeguarding the dynamic political evolutive character of the European Community 4 9. The dynamic political evolutive character of the European Community 20 marked by the founding Treaty on EC having constitutional quality. 10. EC jurisdiction further emanating from a joint national sovereignty 20 consent to the use, within the Council, of implied Treaty powers 11. Developing the dynamic and evolutive European Community, shaping 20 the exercise of national sovereignty through cooperative and competitive European integration and cooperation 12. The dialectic interdependence between national Member State level 21 and the level of jointly exercised sovereignty: the core identity shaping feature of the EC 13. Maintaining the decisiveness and efficiency of decision-making of the EU institutions in the enlarged Union: requiring alternative, flexible forms of cooperation between the Union´s Member States within the Union´s Treaty institutional system without undermining the cohesion of the Union. 14. Unanimity among still sovereign Member States of the European Union in matters of Foreign and Security Policy does not hamper the Union to be a decisive external actor. With special reference made to the case of Poland and the Czech Republik concerning the US offer to install a US led anti-missile shield in both EU Member States 15. The decisiveness of the European Union´s Common Foreign and Security 24 Policy faces the expectation gap between the Union´s legal constitution and living constitution 16. Starting and waging the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq without 24 consulting within the Union´s Council before undertaking action severely affected the Union´s interests to assert its values on the international scene. Prospects of the European Union to contribute to influence the further policy making in international security politics 17. Ensuring the efficient running of the cooperative interconnection relationship of the EU and the Member States : the functional role of the European Union´s concept of a positively joint multi-level exercise of sovereignty-thus marking the core essential of the collective EU identity 18. The national gateway to democratic European Union Governance: the national 27 Constitutions´ clauses allowing the conferring of national legislative powers on the EU 19. The identity and legitimacy issue: Increasing the European Union´s democratic quality should accept the proposal made by the Treaty establishing a Constitution:improving the information of national Parliaments on planned European Community legislation

2008

In this paper I argue that European Union can’t help giving itself a kind, even if light post-modern constitutional frame. Among the different dynamics of integration inside the European Union, I’ll focus on the conceptual alternatives that currently dominate the social science debate, which can be divided in the conceptual pairings neo-federalism and inter-governmental voluntarism. The first, the neo-federalism, refers to the dynamics that envisages the intentional establishment of a political order for all of Europe, oriented towards the fulfillment of shared values and standards (J. Habermas). The second, the inter-governmental voluntarism, analyzes functionalist dynamics driven by national and sectoral interests or contractual compromize, wherein progress is made through cooperative tactical moves that cumulatively fulfill emergent functional necessities. I conclude suggesting a kind of post-modern constitution-frame, grounded on European and cosmopolitan ethical perspectives. Among the models that are on offer it seems to me the one most likely to be well equipped to face the challenges of 21st.