Introduction

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, any attempt to reform the quasiconstitutional treaty framework of the European Union seems doomed to consecutive ratification failures: The treaty of Nice was refused by the Irish electorate in June 2001, and accepted only in a second trial in October 2002. The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was refused by majorities of the French and the Dutch electorates in 2005, causing its abandonment. After the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty by the Irish electorate in June 2008, its fate is unclear. As a consequence, the institutional design of the European Union has not been appropriately adapted to the Eastern enlargement and the increase to twenty-seven member states. Note that originally a far-reaching institutional adaption to that enlargement was already intended to become effective in the Amsterdam Treaty.