European Security Constitution?

Abstract

European constitution should be examined as a process – as constitutionalisation – rather than a standstill, once-made legal phenomenon. Moreover, this process has been a differentiated one: not all the aspects of European constitution have developed simultaneously or at a similar pace. Arguably, European constitutionalisation is susceptible to a periodisation where each stage receives its colouring from a particular constitution. Reflecting the temporal and functional primacy of economic integration, the first wave proceeded under the auspices of economic constitution; in the second phase, the emphasis shifted to juridical constitution; during the third wave, the focus was transferred to political constitution; and finally, in our contemporary age, the pacemaker role appears to have been taken over by security constitution.

In European constitutionalisation, the original impetus to the development of non-economic aspects has arisen from the requirements and implications of the economic one. This also goes for the security constitution, whose development started as a response to the consequences of free movement of workers. But, subsequently, it grew independent of the logic of economic constitution and assumed a dynamics of its own. The paper deals with the specificity of the security constitution and its role among the many constitutions of Europe.

Keywords: security, security constitution, European constitution, transnational law, transnational constitution