Page 199 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

Citizenship 185

Following the enormous expansion of the EU with the accession of Eastern
European states in 2004, it was decided that a formal constitution was
needed. A 300 - page document, which apparently aimed to improve the

transparency and efficiency of EU structures, was completed in the same
year, and it was left to member states to decide how it should be ratifi ed.
Most opted to vote on it in their legislatures; several decided to hold
referenda amongst their citizens. Almost half the legislatures of the member
states had approved the new constitution when voters in France and the
Netherlands rejected it in 2005. Although this meant an end to this form
of the constitution, as member states had to be unanimous in its approval
before it could be adopted, what is more important is that, whilst the
constitution was being drafted, the majority of European citizens appear
to have been completely unaware that it was in process at all (Beck and
Grande, 2007 : 228). What this indicates is a complete lack of interest and
debate about the EU amongst ordinary people across Europe. European
citizens may identify as European to some extent, but insofar as they are
interested in current events, they are oriented far more towards national
media – which generally take little interest in EU procedures and policies,
except when national interests are in question – and national political
institutions. It is unclear now what will happen to the European constitu-
tion. In 2008, Irish voters rejected its successor, the Lisbon Treaty, despite
the fact that virtually all the Irish political parties were in favor of it and
the EU is generally very popular in Ireland. Whatever happens, however,
it is clear that without a European - wide debate on the necessity for a
constitution, what form it should take, and how the political procedures
of the EU might be made more transparent and relevant to European citi-
zens, it will have no effect whatsoever on the EU ’ s “ democratic defi cit ”
(Beck and Grande, 2007 : 230).
Europeans do have a form of post - national citizenship assured by the
EU as an emerging “ supranational state, ” then, but it is problematic
insofar as it has eroded some of the political rights they enjoyed as the
citizens of sovereign nation - states. This is not to suggest that the EU is
inherently undemocratic. On the contrary, lack of democratic account-
ability at the supranational level must presumably be weighed against the
potential gain in control by national governments over processes that
cannot be contained within national borders. It must also be weighed
against the success of the EU in coordinating the peaceful existence of
states that have been at war with each other, on and off, throughout their
history, and in institutionalizing cosmopolitan law that gives individuals
living in Europe, including non - citizens, some legal leverage over their
fundamental citizenship rights.