CONSTITUTION'S REJECTION PORTENDS STALL IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
CONSTITUTION'S REJECTION PORTENDS STALL IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Alastair Sutton, White & Case EU Law Authority, Sees Period of Drift
June 22, 2005
The failure of the European Constitution in recent referenda in France and the Netherlands is a 'grave setback for European integration,' but is unlikely to lead to the European Union's disintegration, according to White & Case partner Alastair Sutton, a leading authority on EU law.
In a white paper analyzing the causes and effects of the resounding electoral defeats of the Constitution in two of the EU's core Member States, Sutton, a lawyer in Brussels for 32 years, half that time working inside the European Commission, says strong political leadership is essential now to move the 'European project' forward. However, he cautions, there currently does not appear to be the political will among the Member States to summon the necessary leadership.
'The rejection of the Constitution by the French and Dutch electorates is a grave setback for the process of European integration, [but] it nonetheless needs to be placed in perspective,' Sutton states in his analysis. 'If further integration is likely to be on hold, the prospects of disintegration, at least in the short term, are equally remote. The most likely outcome is 'standstill' rather than 'rollback.''
Sutton, who prior to going into private practice held numerous EC posts, including head of the financial services department, and who teaches European and international trade law at University College London, said that the Constitution was a scapegoat that fell victim to the 'wider European malaise': the notion that the institutions of the EU are remote from the concerns and unresponsive to the will of Europe's citizenry.
Sutton notes: 'The remarkable progress achieved over the last 20 years has come at a price, that is generally expressed in terms of the 'democratic deficit,' whereby the 'broadening and deepening' of European integration (more Member States, an increasingly diverse and technical agenda, more jargon and acronyms, un-transparent committees, increasingly voluminous legislation) have given the public an impression of a system that is irrelevant to them and beyond their control.'
Sutton cautions that, while the setbacks for Constitution will stall progress, Europe can ill-afford an extended period of 'navel-gazing, leading to weakness through fragmentation.' The challenges of the Europe's transatlantic relationship with the United States and the emergence of Asian economic superpowers in China and India underscore the 'fast-moving, dangerous and competitive global situation in which the EU now finds itself.'
Sutton expects that further EU enlargement will be put on indefinite hold: the timeline for Bulgarian and Romanian accession in 2007 is questionable, and eventual membership for Turkey and the Western Balkan applicants is increasingly in doubt.
The task ahead in the short term is to retrench and consolidate: 'In due course,' Sutton writes, 'the debate will have to be resumed in order to define the EU's future. Old assumptions can no longer be taken for granted. The EU needs a new raison d'