The lack of enthusiasm for the European Union and its proposed constitution among the
European people surprised the political elite of Europe. Codifying common beliefs and values
seemed to be a good way to represent the European identity in written form. The signing of
the constitutional treaty should have become an important symbolic act, demonstrating the
willingness of the people to bond together. Instead, a so-called Reform Treaty was passed in
Lisbon in 2007 (to be ratified by all member states by 2009) that specifically abandoned any
allusion to symbolic forms of European representation such as the term
constitution, the flag, or a European anthem.