To what extent has the EU become a federal state? Does the Treaty of Lisbon form a constitution for that state?

... FOUNDATIONS IN EUROPEAN UNION LAW Assignment 2008/09 To what extent has the EU become a federal state? Does the Treaty of Lisbon form a constitution for that state? The EU was formed partly out of this desire, with the early architects seeing its predecessors as the first step to a European federation. Since the 1950s, European integration in this manner has seen the development of a supranational system of governance, as its institutions move further from the concept of intergovernmental. However, with the Maastricht Treaty of 1993, new intergovernmental elements have been introduced alongside the more federal systems making the definition of the European Union much more complex. The European Union, which operates through a hybrid system of intergovernmental and supranational, is not officially a federation - though various academic observers treat it as a federal system. Federal Europe is a speculative scenario where a politically united Europe, usually in the modern

want to read more? →