What Red Lines, If Any, Do the Lisbon Judgments of European Constitutional Courts Draw for Future EU Integration?

Abstract

The paper critically examines the Lisbon decisions of European Constitutional Courts and attempts to tease out what red lines they draw for future European integration. Overall, the Constitutional Courts leave much hope for an enduring legal development of the EU. The only definitive red line is not of a legal, but of a moral nature. As long as the EU continues to exist for the sake of the European People,and the common good is truly best served by it, then deeper integration can be morally justified, politically achieved, and legally implemented. This conception of the European idea, this dream of Europe, can be defended in the face of critics, regardless of the red lines to integration.

Keywords: European Constitutional law; Treaty of Lisbon; German Constitutional Court

JEL Classification: K10; K33