Introduction

How can we best conceive of the European Union (EU) constitution? In my view it is essential to try to elaborate a conception of the EU constitution which engages with the concerns, not only of the elite, but also of ordinary citizens. I suggest that an adequate conception of the EU constitution requires systematic attention to its social, economic, political and cultural contexts. Consequently, this chapter seeks to sketch a model of the EU constitution that takes account of the various contexts that produce EU law and shape its operation in practice. To facilitate this task, it is useful first to circumscribe the object of inquiry, to define the term ‘constitution’, and to identify some ways in which the EU constitution has so far been conceived.

Most work so far has either focused solely on the EC or, though concerned with the EU, lamented the fact that, in contrast to its predecessor, it could no longer be understood in constitutional terms. In contrast, partly in view of the past history of European integration, but even more because of its future, I suggest that we should be concerned with the EU, not only the EC, for two reasons. On the one hand, nowadays it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand EC law from the technical legal standpoint except in the broader legal context of the EU.