Global Debates

The recent European Council meeting (held in Brussels on 15-16 June) will surely be remembered as one of the emptiest European Council meetings in years. But emptiness is seldom innocuous: the great nothingness in which Europe has developed since the failed referendum in France last year is slowly but relentlessly swallowing entire bits of EU’s future. Many argue that the Constitution should be buried in order to spare much-needed political energies for practical policies. But EU leaders have just refused to move justice and police matters to qualified-majority voting- a measure which would have enhanced national governments’ capacity to fight illegal immigration and transnational organized crime. Then, as they slept on the Constitutional project – containing rules which are essential for the EU to be able to effectively function at 27 members – they spent considerable time and energy discussing whether the Union should enlarge further or not. (more…)