Nicole Scicluna - European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis

European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis

Several years after the first Greek bailout, the integration project of the European Union faces an interlocking set of political, economic, legal and social challenges that go to the very core of its existence. Austerity is the order of the day, and citizens in both debtor and creditor states increasingly turn to the political movements of the far left and right, anti-politics and street protests to vent their frustration.

This book demonstrates the limits of constitutionalism in the EU. It explores the twin crises the failure of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and the more recent Eurozone crisis to illuminate both the possibilities and pitfalls of the integration project. It argues that European integration overburdened law in an attempt to overcome deep-seated political deficiencies. It further contends that the EU shifted from an unsuccessful attempt at democratisation via politicisation (the Constitutional Treaty), to an unintended politicisation without democratisation (the Eurozone crisis) only a few years later. The book makes the case that this course is unsustainable and threatens the goal of European unity.

This text will be of key interest to students and scholars in the fields of EU studies, EU law, democracy studies, constitutional studies and international relations.

Nicole Scicluna is a researcher at Collegio Carlo Alberto, Italy.

Routledge/UACES Contemporary European Studies

Edited by Federica Bicchi, London School of Economics and Political Science, Tanja Brzel, Free University of Berlin, and Mark Pollack, Temple University, on behalf of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies

Editorial Board: Grainne De Brca, European University Institute and Columbia University; Andreas Fllesdal, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo; Peter Holmes, University of Sussex; Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; David Phinnemore, Queens University Belfast; Ben Rosamond, University of Warwick; Vivien Ann Schmidt, University of Boston; Jo Shaw, University of Edinburgh; Mike Smith, University of Loughborough and Loukas Tsoukalis, ELIAMEP, University of Athens and European University Institute.

The primary objective of the new Contemporary European Studies series is to provide a research outlet for scholars of European Studies from all disciplines. The series publishes important scholarly works and aims to forge for itself an international reputation.

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Nicole Scicluna

European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis

Nicole Scicluna

First published 2015

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2015 Nicole Scicluna

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Scicluna, Nicole, author.

European Union constitutionalism in crisis / Nicole Scicluna.

pages cm. (Routledge/UACES contemporary European studies; 26)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Constitutional lawEuropean Union countries. 2. European Union countriesPolitics and government. I. Title.