ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the calls for a constitution and examines how far they are already met by the Treaties and what consequences fully meeting them would have for the Union and the Member States. Constitutions are concerned with the legitimation of rule by those subject to it, the Treaties thus fall short. This gives the justification for the position that has dominated European political discourse on the constitutional question. Either the constitution is already there in the form of the treaties, or else these fail to meet just those requirements that are made of a constitution. The contradictory views are therefore to be met with in different areas of discourse. The first dominates the European legal debate, and can appeal to the case law of the European Court of Justice. The second pervades the European policy debate, and most recently found expression in a constitutional initiative by the European Parliament.
