ABSTRACT
The fundamental yardstick of legitimacy constitutes the primary review criterion in the evaluation of European Union (EU) constitutional reality undertaken by Alun Gibbs. Gibbs goes on to issue an almost vocational call for all of us to participate in EU constitutionalism 'the need to reflect and act upon the author's own agency as part of the integration process' thereby outlining the most challenging premise of his contribution. Marie Cahill uses an elegant 'veil' image to depict an inherent fragility of the EU constitutional frame, whereby, on the one hand, this veil obscures the fact that when decisions in individual cases are accepted and reinforced, this contributes acceptance and reinforcement of EU constitutionalism in a macro sense also. Constitutionalism has different elements, and not all of them must always be reflected in the same way or in the same weighting. But then, the legitimacy arguments underpinning the arguments developed by Gibbs would have to be pushed uncomfortably to the side.
