Full Description
"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 the Treaty. As the debate about the constitutional status of the EU continues to rage, this timely book offers a critical interpretation of the EU's complex constitution and clarifies the terms of the debate, while highlighting the inconsistencies of eurocritics. The author argues that the EU is not and should 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. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the subjects of European law and politics as well as those interested in learning and engaging in the debate surrounding the EU and its constitution.
Contents
Introduction: United Ever More Closely? Part One - Phantasmagorical Thinking at Work: The European Union as a "Superstate" 1 The Non-State Nature of the European Union 2 Fitting the European Union into Procruste's Bed: The Federal Question Part Two - Let it Be: The European Union's Democratic Deficit 3 Viewing Democracy through Rose-Tinted Glasses. 4 Refining Democracy for a Non-State and a Non-Nation Polity Part Three - The European Union: Neither Neo-liberal Nor Socialist 5 The Alleged Neo-liberal Bias 6 The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Socialist Trojan Horse Conclusion: Europe at Fifty: An Occasion for Dancing in the Streets?
