The European Dream

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Just as striking is what the constitution does emphasize. The EU objectives include a clear commitment to "sustainable development . . . based on balanced economic growth," a "social market economy," and "protection and improvement of the quality of the environment." The constitution would also "promote peace . . . combat social exclusion and discrimination . . . promote social justice and protection, equality between men and women, solidarity between generations, and protection of children's rights."

The constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights goes far beyond our own Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments. For example, it promises everyone preventive health care, daily and weekly rest periods, an annual period of paid leave, maternity and parental leave, social and housing assistance, and environmental protection.

The EU Constitution is something new in human history. Though it is not as eloquent as the French and U.S. constitutions, it is the first governing document of its kind to expand the human franchise to the level of global consciousness. The language throughout the draft constitution speaks of universalism, making it clear that its focus is not a people, or a territory, or a nation, but rather the human race and the planet we inhabit.

By decoupling human rights from territoriality, the European Union has ventured into a new political frontier, with far-reaching consequences for the future of the human race. Citizenship, heretofore, has always been attached exclusively to a nation-state. What happens, then, to the very idea of the state when the political rights of its members are conferred and guaranteed by an extraterritorial body? EU citizens have become the first people in the world whose rights are no longer dependent on the nation-state, but, rather, are universal and enforceable by law.

The gist of the new constitution is a commitment to respect human diversity, promote inclusivity, champion human rights and the rights of nature, foster quality of life, pursue sustainable development, free the human spirit for deep play, build a perpetual peace, and nurture a global consciousness. Together, these values and goals represent the woof and warp of a fledgling European Dream.

Europe's newly emerging dream is already threatening to create a schism with the United States in a number of areas. For example, the European Union forbids capital punishment. Even a person who commits the most heinous of crimes against fellow human beings, including terrorism or genocide, enjoys, in the official words of the European Union, "an inherent and inalienable dignity." The Europeans see their position on the death penalty as going to the very heart of their new dream, and they hope to convince the world of the righteousness of their cause.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print