Over the last 50 years Europe has been built along paradoxical lines. Every important initiative was taken by governments, in particular by the Franco-German duo, i.e. by those who had the most to lose in terms of powers transferred to Brussels. Meanwhile, it was only on exceptional occasions that the citizens, who spontaneously supported Europe and had the most to gain, were invited to speak their mind on major issues.
That era is now gone. For the last two years citizens and their representatives have forced their way into the European debate.
The first breakthrough came with the European Convention. It was at that Convention that European leaders tasked the elected representatives of all the EU national parliaments to draw up the first treaty for the enlarged Europe. The outcome has exceeded the most optimistic expectations. The Convention proposed moving from an economic and monetary Europe to a political Europe, from a Union of governments to a marriage of the peoples, and from a system of obscure and rather ineffective decision-making to a more transparent and fully democratic system: in short, replacing an ordinary treaty with a Constitution, with rules governing the communal life of 450 million European citizens.
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