ABSTRACT
The title of this book might seem a misnomer as the Treaty on European Union (EU) was only signed in February 1992 (following agreement at the Maastricht summit by member states’ heads of government in December 1991). The EU’s ratification process was only completed in 1993. Yet in reality the EU is currently mainly a continuation of the European Economic Community (EEC) 1958-86, and the European Community (EC) 1986-91, under a different name or guise. Despite the EU Treaty incorporating the objective of Economic and Monetary Union by 1999, the extent of any constitutional change to date is modest. It has amounted to cosmetic surgery rather than to a metamorphosis of the institutions and functions of the EC (see Chapter 6 ).
