A Simplified Treaty for the European Union

The idea for re-organising the complex collection of interlocking European treaties in order to make them clearer was originally presented in the Comission's opinion to the 1997 Intergovernmental Conference at Amsterdam. It was taken up in the 'Wise Men' report by Jean-Luc Dehaene, former Prime Minister of belgium, Lord Simon, former Minister of Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, and Richard vonWeizacker, former President of the federal republic of Germany, on the institutional implications of enlargement. The European Comission then asked the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence to carry out a feasibility study on simplifying the Treaties without, however, changing their substance. The EUI has produced a draft basic Treaty of the European Union - a simplified, coherent treaty that restructures the Articles setting out the institutional framework, the operating rules of the Union and the EU's policy objectives. The contributors in this volume analyse the draft and comment on whether this re-organisation actually makes the Treaties more accessible to Europe's cotizens.In doing so, they pose another question; is simplification sufficient, or has the time come for a Basic treaty that really provides the EU with a proper constitution? In addressing this question, the authors- academics and politicians with an in-depth knowledge of the EU's constitutional development- make a valuable contribution to the wider debate on the future of Europe. The EUI has produced a draft basic Treaty of the European Union - a simplified, coherent treaty that restructures the Articles setting out the institutional framework, the operating rules of the Union and the EU's policy objectives. The contributors in this volume analyse the draft and comment on whether this re-organisation actually makes the Treaties more accessible to Europe's cotizens. In doing so, they pose another question; is simplification sufficient, or has the time come for a Basic treaty that really provides the EU with a proper constitution? In addressing this question, the authors- academics and politicians with an in-depth knowledge of the EU's constitutional development- make a valuable contribution to the wider debate on the future of Europe.