French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that he will submit the EU "Reform" Treaty agreed upon in Lisbon last week to the French parliament for ratification. In so doing, is he proposing to ratify a treaty that is essentially identical to the "Constitutional" Treaty that French voters rejected in a referendum in 2005? French constitutional law scholar Anne-Marie Le Pourhiet says yes -- and outlines the drastic consequences of such an action.
On Oct. 5, the proposed European "Amending Treaty" -- commonly known as the "Reform" Treaty -- was made public. Upon reading the text, one understands why its authors declined to use the expressions "mini-treaty" or "simplified treaty" that had earlier been used to refer to it: since, along with its 12 protocols and 25 declarations, it runs to no less than 256 pages. As concerns the structure of the document, moreover, it would have been difficult to come up with something more complex.
Keep reading for free!
Get instant access to the rest of this article as well as three free articles per month. You'll also receive our free email newsletter to stay up to date on all our coverage:
Or, Subscribe now to get full access.
Already a subscriber? Log in here .
What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:
A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having your own personal researcher and analyst for news and events around the globe. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:
- Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of 15,000+ articles
- Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday
- Weekly in-depth reports on important issues and countries
- Daily links to must-read news, analysis, and opinion from top sources around the globe, curated by our keen-eyed team of editors
- Your choice of weekly region-specific newsletters, delivered to your inbox.
- Smartphone- and tablet-friendly website.
- Completely ad-free reading.
And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.