Revolt by Referendum? in Search of a European Constitutional Narrative

Abstract

This is a Review Article of The Idea of a European Superstate: Public Justification and European Integration by Glyn Morgan. It considers the EU's constitutional reforms of recent years, arguing that part of the failure of the reform process was due to the absence of an adequate justification of the integration process by elites to the citizens of its member states. Such a justification, it argues, should have take the form of a 'constitutional narrative' to complement the process of the formal constitutionalization of the polity. It considers the proposals for such a constitutional narrative present in Morgan's book, arguing that while the focus on the question of the justification of European integration is to be welcomed, ultimately the proposals put forward are not suitable to the EU's current situation.

Keywords: European Constitutionalism, Constitutional Reform, Referendum, Lisbon Treaty, Constitutional Narrative, European Superstate