The Guardian: EU-This treaty is a mess, but it will free Europe to do more important things - Timothy Garton Ash
EU-This treaty is a mess, but it will free Europe to do more important things - Timothy Garton Ash
To my left, there squats this monstrous 312-page spotted dick, plus copies of earlier treaties without which it cannot be understood; to my right, an elegant, pocket-sized, burgundy-colored volume of just 60 pages, which contains both the Declaration of Independence and the 220-year-old constitution of the United States of America, with all subsequent amendments. "We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." begins their effort.
In itself, it will do nothing to convince Europe's citizens, or the rest of the world, of what the European Union is good for. But it will help the EU to do things that may convince them. Now that the end of this long, disappointing constitutional debate is at last in sight, it should free us to concentrate on what this union does, rather than what it is, or says it is. In fact, the EU will define what it is by what it does. Will it help to create jobs, strengthen a free-trading world, encourage development, or combat climate change? What can it offer neighbours who will not become members, in the arc of crisis that surrounds us, from Murmansk to Casablanca? We cannot wait until January 2009 to address these questions. By then, a new American president will want to hear our answers.
