Abstract

The 2007 Treaty settlement represents an attempt by national leaders to banish the language of constitutionalism from the EU reform project for a generation. This book argues that the constitutional question cannot and should not disappear so easily. Examining the Union's constitutional past, and the prospects of constitutionalism providing a 'thicker' language of values for the future, the book provides a thorough analysis of the continuing role of constitutional thought in the EU's search for legitimacy as the world's first post-state polity.