The re-founding of the European Union

The gradual constitutionalisation of the European Communities


Since the end of the Second World War, several draft European Constitutions have been drawn up. The common denominator of all these drafts was the creation of a peaceful and prosperous Europe governed by the rule of law. Yet their most striking feature was the type of strategy that they envisaged in order to attain that final objective. This was a global strategy, one in which all the elements of political Europe were defined right from the outset.


However, faced with the global strategy and its ‘direct method’ of constitutionalising Europe, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman devised an alternative strategy with a view to the establishment of the European Federation, the strategy of ‘small steps’, or indirect constitutionalisation. Accordingly, as the basic foundation of a wider and deeper community, the European Communities are, little by little, developing into an ever closer union.

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