ABSTRACT
Constitutional politics are typically linked to dramatic 'moments' such as a civil war, revolution, military defeat, or some other national disaster or major turning point. This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the debates in the Convention that drafted the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It considers the nature of constitutional rights. The chapter argues that because rights are subject to reasonable disagreements about their substance, scope, and sphere, the subjects to whom they apply, and the ways they might be specified and secured, the conditions of public reason held to typify 'constitutional' politics will be insufficient to produce a consensus. It illustrates the points through an analysis of the Convention. The Convention to draft the Charter was thought in many quarters to offer a new method for legitimating European integration – one that differed from the normal politics of compromise held to characterize intergovernmental conferences where principle was allegedly subordinated to national interests.
