Values in the Constitution of Europe

This collection provides a comprehensive account of the content and the implications of the 'common values' which are emerging in the present constitutional debate upon the future of the European Union. The consolidation of values in EU constitutional discourse is addressed in the collection, from a range of legal, political, social and historical viewpoints. These all investigate the effects of constructing the emerging Constitution for Europe upon a set of core values which represent a consensus among member and candidate states of their vision of the Union, whilst also maintaining respect for cultural and national diversities. The collection's conclusions demonstrate the importance of a constitutionalisation of values in the EU for both its symbolic implications - the binding together of the peoples of Europe - and its legal effects - the sanctioning of member states which violate these values. It also points out that EU values, whilst somewhat controversially labelled 'common' or 'universal', implicate the full range of EU activities cutting across economic, political and social spheres.