Fra utopia e scetticismo. Considerazioni sulla costituzione europea

This article is firstly addressed to countering the opinion according to which a European constitution can only follow, rather than precede, a widespread feeling of European identity across the continent. There are in fact solid common grounds and not only economic ones shared by the various European countries, first and foremost their secular character, based on a clear-cut distinction between civil life and religious beliefs. Secondly, the article points to some of the weaknesses of the text of the draft EU constitution being discussed by the Convention’s Praesidium. There is no consistent vision of citizenship, the role of the judicial system is overshadowed and the institutional structure still today largely undemocratic and based on the predominance of the member states remains virtually untouched. All this means that there is a risk that an important occasion for change will be missed. Yet the process needs to be completed, since the symbolic unification of Europe is urgent in the context of world politics today.;

Vincenzo Ferrari, Fra utopia e scetticismo. Considerazioni sulla costituzione europea in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 1/2003, pp , DOI: