An Open-Ended Constitutional Process

Abstract

To look at the constitutional aspect of European integration we need to go back to the original, unfinished debate on its principles, organizations and objectives. At present, the ratification of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) — a truly Janus-like deity — has reopened the debate about the tension which exists between the intergovernmental and federal approaches.

The world, the being and the history have their own tempo, on which we can undoubtedly exercise a creative influence, but which nobody can dominate completely. The world and the being do not blindly obey the orders of a technocrat or a political engineer, and they are not there in order to fulfil their forecasts.

Vaclav Havel