With the publication of the first draft articles of a constitutional treaty the Convention on the Future of Europe moved this week into really serious political territory.
These articles cover the definition, objectives and values of the Union, fundamental rights, citizenship, its competences, co-ordination of economic policies and support for its common foreign and security policy. For the most part, they achieve the Convention's major objective of setting out clearly the basic principles of how a future enlarged Union should be governed.
They are a draft, subject to amendment by the Convention and then by an inter-governmental conference. Many of them are controversial and certain to be vigorously contested in further debate and negotiations. But they demonstrate how valuable the new method of working on this foundational text is proving to be as it enters its concluding stages.
The involvement of government nominees, representatives of national parliaments, the European Commission and Parliament has made the political process involved more inclusive. The working group reports, plenary discussions and civil society involvement on which the draft is based have done valuable work which deserves a wider audience.
It is time for this constitutional exercise to be broadcast and discussed much more widely by politicans and media in all the EU member-states and accession states. These draft articles demonstrate how necessary this will be if parliaments and peoples are to be convinced of the merits of this exercise. They seek to strike a consensus without sacrificing principle to bland compromises. They steer a path through alternative visions.
A real consensus has emerged at the Convention which is reflected directly in this draft. It is accepted that there will be a constitutional treaty to replace previous texts. The Union will have a single legal personality allowing it to join international organisations. The Charter of Fundamental Rights will be incorporated into the treaty. There will be more majority voting, co-decision with the European Parliament and a much more coherent foreign policy process.
These issues remain controversial in Ireland in the wake of the two Nice referendums. The draft constitution confers exclusive competence on the EU in specific areas.
It will supersede Bunreacht na h-Éireann. There will be shared competences in other spheres. These moves must be debated now and not left dormant to surface suddenly in a referendum.