Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is right: the outcome has far surpassed our expectations of eighteen months ago. Let us not underestimate the challenge that has had to be met in achieving consensus among the representatives of all political parties in all of the countries involved in the process of European integration: twenty-eight nations, each attached to its identity, its language and its long-standing or newly acquired independence, with a total population exceeding 500 million. The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia brought together the representatives of 13 small states which spoke the same language, had never been separately independent and had just been transformed into a single nation of three million inhabitants following a common war of independence; the success of that Convention remains unparalleled, but the task facing the Europeans has been incomparably tougher.
Nevertheless, the final compromise was not based on the lowest common denominator but on the triumph of the founding fathers’ ideal, on the introduction of the community model across the board. The foundations have been laid for a different Europe.
The European Union is no longer a mere economic area with the corresponding political instruments but a genuine political union with a wider mission, endowed with effective and democratic institutions. The introduction of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the use of the word ‘constitution’ epitomise this transformation.
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Valéry Giscard d’Estaing a raison : jugé à l’aune de nos attentes d’il y a dix-huit mois, le résultat est inespéré. Ne sous-estimons pas le défi qui était à relever : trouver un consensus entre les représentants de tous les partis politiques de tous les Etats concernés par la construction européenne. Vingt-huit nations, chacune attachée à son identité, à sa langue, à son indépendance, ancienne ou fraîchement acquise, et dépassant ensemble les 500 millions d’habitants. La Convention de Philadelphie rassemblait les représentants de 13 petits Etats, parlant la même langue, n’ayant jamais connu l’indépendance individuelle, et qu’une guerre d’indépendance commune venait de transformer en une seule nation de 3 millions de citoyens: sa réussite reste inégalée, mais la tâche des Européens était incomparablement plus rude.
Or, le compromis final ne s’est pas fait sur la base du plus petit dénominateur commun, mais sur le triomphe de l’idée des pères fondateurs, sur la généralisation du modèle communautaire. Une autre Europe est fondée.
L’Union européenne n’est plus seulement un espace économique doté des moyens politiques correspondants, mais une vraie Union politique à vocation plus large, dotée d’institutions efficaces et démocratiques. L’introduction de la Charte des droits fondamentaux, et l’utilisation du mot « constitution » symbolisent ce changement.
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During 2003, a major innovation has been introduced into the French Constitution, namely the right of experimentation. Local and regional authorities will henceforth be able to innovate by exercising powers that are not systematically assigned to all authorities in their tier of government. In point of fact, the Basque Country started experimenting in this way, behind the back of the Constitution, ten years ago! This was the result of a very unusual move by French standards, which was initiated by a few men but now involves the whole of Basque society. The initial idea came to a subprefect of Bayonne, Christian Sapède. Observing that it was difficult for the main players in political, economic and cultural life to get together and talk, he proposed that everyone should rally round a common project: our vision of the Basque Country in 2010. The top brains in the authority for spatial planning and regional action, DATAR, were enlisted to instruct us in the chosen strategy, and a kind of quiet miracle took place. Elected representatives, company bosses, academics, cultural activists and Basque nationalists talked to each other, exchanged opinions and ideas and realised that they shared the same ambition for their region. So they set about working together.
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