The Values of the Eu and Us Constitutions
Essay Preview: The Values of the Eu and Us Constitutions
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The defining act for the creation of any nation is often the writing and ratifying of its Constitution. A Constitution has two main functions: to address the rights (powers) of its respective government and to enumerate the rights of the individuals residing under said government. In these respects, the US Constitution and the EU Constitution are very much similar. Each document sought to take separate states (the colonies for the US and the member countries for the EU) and bring their individual personalities together under an overreaching governing body. The documents are so similar in structure, in fact, that the EU Constitution was said to have been born out of an “American Model”. In as much, the EU Constitution includes a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union that is akin to the US Bill of Rights. While each Constitution contains similar provisions for individual rights, the EU charter is much longer and more globally minded. The EU Constitution, despite being, in typical European fashion, more multilateral, will certainly still face many of the same battles that the United States Constitution did.
Just as the US Constitution had to fight its own scuffles in order to be ratified, so is the EU Constitution currently fighting for its legitimacy. Opposition in both cases stemmed from the individual states fearing loss of sovereignty. The thirteen colonies faced this decision in ratifying the Constitution of the United States of America. They viewed themselves as sovereign entities before the ratification of the Constitution, and many of them viewed themselves as sovereign entities even after ratification (although the Supreme Court would later refute this contention of theirs). EU member states have a similar problem. BBC News, in a poll prior to the signing of the EU Constitution in October of 2004, polled states on their main fears about ratification. Several countries, including France, Italy, and the UK, listed fear of sovereignty loss as their main concern. Nationalistic and regional pride is not easily relinquished. For these reasons, core uniting values had to be established as an umbrella over each Constitution. A certain set of virtuous goals is set out in each document as a way to establish aims of behavior. These aims would be broad moral tendencies that would apply both to the governmental doctrine as well as the individual human rights doctrine. These broad goals are put forth in the preambles of each Constitution, as a base unifier.
The broad goals of each Constitution are actually quite similar, with the exception that, as mentioned before, the EU Constitution has a more global conscious. The US preamble is short, stating:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
It should be noted that there is never any mention of an outside world within the Preamble to the US Constitution. The language of this preamble is very inward and self-minded. The US does not seek “world peace” as an objective, but only “domestic Tranquility.” Defense is for the Ðcommon Americans, not outsiders. The most obvious assertion of American isolationism is the fact that the “Blessings of Liberty” are only afforded to Americans and their “posterity.” An outside world is, of course, implied, but only as a possible aggressor (one the US would need a “common defence” against). The US Constitutions Preamble does not pretend to have an interest in international welfare.
The Constitution of the EU, in contrast, is much more verbose and has a more global mind. The main concern of the EU is stated in its preamble: for Europe to remain “united in its diversity”. The goals and values of this unification are stated as follows: “respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities”. These are more specific values than those listed in the US Preamble. They also do not insinuate that they are dedicated to those values only on their own soil. The EU is founded not on “human rights for Europeans,” but simply “human rights.” Moreover, their world view is explicitly stated in a goal: “to strive for peace, justice and solidarity throughout the world [emphasis added].”
The EU Preambles (both the general Preamble and the Preamble to the Charter for Fundamental Human Rights) are also unique in that they put an almost redundant stress on the idea of respecting the consciousnesses of the individual member states. This is highlighted over an over again, as evidenced by the Charter Preambles statement,
“The Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the Member States and the organisation of their public authorities at national regional and local levels.”
This is extremely pointed towards respect for individual member states. It is first espoused in the opening preamble, asserting that member states will give up sovereignty “while remaining proud of their own national identities and history”. The US Constitution never mentions abstract emotions such as “pride” when referring to state citizenry. The states are entities with reserved powers, but the US Constitution never makes mention of state honor or identity.
The irony is that even while affirming the respected individuality of each member state, the EU Constitution still maintains that the EU has supremacy. Article I-5 (a) clearly avows, “The Constitution, and law adopted by the Unions Institutions in exercising competences conferred on it, shall have primacy over the law of the Member States.” It is possible, then, that the figurative language expounding on the diversity of the union and the respect for individual member states is a means to appease the pride of the states before ultimately subjugating their rule.
The US Constitution also contains this type of primacy clause. Article VI boldly asserts, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States [. . .] shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” If the EU is to learn from the difficulties of the US unification, they should expect problems to arise from their primacy clause just as problems arose from the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution. Even though the wording seems explicit, it wasnt