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Abstract:
The Convention on the Future of Europe is likely to produce a constitutional prototype for Europe. In this article, I focus on five hard constitutional choices which Europe will face: the constitutional significance of enlargement; the 'pure' constitutional issue, namely the significance of form; the issue of Europe's social solidarity as a defining identity marker and the question of whether it should, therefore, be constitutionalized thereby taking it out of day-to-day politics; the issue of policing rather than defining the demarcation of competences between the Union and Member States; and, finally, the tricky issue of a human rights policy for Europe.

Abstract:
While the EU is a staunch defender of human rights in both its internal and external policies, it lacks a comprehensive or coherent policy at either level. This discrepancy is even less sustainable in 1999 than it was just a few years ago. Monetary union, enlargement, a need to match growing powers with effective human rights scrutiny, and various other developments all necessitate a far more developed human rights policy. Existing institutional arrangements are especially unsatisfactory and the article puts forward a wide range of measures that should be explored in relation to the role of the Council, Commission, Parliament and Court, as well as Member States.