The European Union and the public sphere: A communicative space in the making?

After two decades of almost breathtaking integration, the French non (by 54.7 per cent) and the Dutch nee (by 61.6 per cent) to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in May and June 2005 underlined that the Union had arrived at a critical juncture. Whatever sense of direction could be derived from a decades-long process of integration has apparently given way to profound uncertainty and heightened contestation over the Union’s future development. This has precipitated a ‘reflection period’, as well as initiatives by the Commission to improve its communication policy (cf. European Commission 2006).