This new volume presents a wealth of fresh data documenting and analyzing the different positions taken by governments in the development of the European Constitution. It examines how such decisions have substantial effects on the sovereignty of nation states and on the lives of citizens, independent of the ratification of a constitution. Few efforts have been made to document constitution building in a systematic and comparative manner, including the different steps and stages of this process. This book examines European Constitution-building by tracing the two-level policy formation process from the draft proposal of the European Convention until the Intergovernmental Conference, which finally adopted the document on the Constitution in June 2004. Following a tight comparative framework, it sheds light on reactions to the proposed constitution in the domestic arena of all the actors involved. It includes a chapter on each of the original ten member states and the fifteen accession states, plus key chapters on the European Commission and European Parliament. This book will be of strong interest to scholars and researchers of European Union politics, comparative politics, and policy-making.

Thomas König is Professor of Political Science at the German University for Administrative Sciences Speyer. Simon Hug is Professor of Political Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

List of tables

List of figures

About the authors

List of abbreviations

INTRODUCTION

Policy--making Processes and the European Constitution:

A Comparative Study of Member States and Accession Countries

Thomas König and Simon Hug

1 The European Convention and the Rome and Brussels IGCs:
A Veto Players Analysis

George Tsebelis

2 The European Convention: Consensus without Unity?

Thomas König, Andreas Warntjen, Simone Burkhart

3 The Coordination of Austria's National Position regarding the Constitution

Christine Arnold and Annemieke Burmeister

4 Belgium, the Convention and the IGC: Consensus and Coalition Politics

Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe

5 Cyprus: Under the Shadow of the Inter--Communal Conflict

Spyros Blavoukos and George Pagoulatos

6 The Czech Republic: Sitting on the Fence

Tobias Schulz and Martina Chabreckova

7 Denmark: The Nordic Model as an Effort to Bridge Elite Euro--Optimism
and Popular Euro--Skepticism

Hartmut Lenz and Han Dorussen

8 Estonia: A Single Voice in Europe's Intergovernmental Bargaining

Daniel Finke

9 Finland: Centralized Consensus on EU Constitution Building

Daniel Finke and Thomas König

10 France: The President takes all

Tobias Schulz

11 Germany: The Promoter of European Integration?

Stephanie Daimer and Thomas König

12 Greece: Overcoming Negative Stereotyping

George Pagoulatos and Spyros Blavoukos

13 Hungary: United in Support, Divided by Borders

Anna Gwiazda and Kenneth Benoit

14 Ireland: Pragmatism and the EU Constitution

Anna Gwiazda

15 Italy: The Presidency at Work?

Tobias Schulz

16 Latvia and the EU Constitution: A Pragmatic "Yes"

Stephanie Daimer

17 Lithuania: A Priority for Europe

Stephanie Daimer

18 Luxembourg, the Convention and the IGC: Consensus and Concern
for Its Economy

Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe

19 Malta: the Importance of Being Unimportant

Spyros Blavoukos

20 Domestic Preference Formation in the Netherlands on the European
Constitution

Christine Arnold, Madeleine O. Hosli, Paul Pennings

21 Poland: the Struggle for Nice

Anna Gwiazda

22 Portugal: in Quest for a New Role

Spyros Blavoukos and George Pagoulatos

23 Slovakia: Avoiding Conflict to Secure Stability

Tobias Schulz and Martina Chabreckova

24 Position Taking and Coordination Processes of the Government of the
Republic of Slovenia

Giacomo Benedetto

25 Preference Formation and European Constitution--Building: The Spanish
Perspective

Raj S. Chari and Alfonso Egea--de Haro

26 The "Third Way" of Sweden Towards the European Constitution:
Promoting Social Policies and Safeguarding Neutrality

Hartmut Lenz and Han Dorussen

27 Position Taking and Coordination Processes of the Government of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Giacomo Benedetto

28 The Commission, the Convention and the IGC: Consensus and Concern
for Its Role

Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe

29 Position Taking and Coordination Processes of the European Parliament

Giacomo Benedetto

30 Conclusion

Simon Hug and Thomas König

ANNEX: The Measure of Adapted Coherence for the Evaluation of Experts

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Official Documents, Databases, Press Sources

INDEX