La nuova Costituzione dell'Unione e il futuro del Parlamento europeo

Although the progressive transformation of the European Union has led to a significant increase in the powers of the European Parliament and the partial parliamentarisation of the community system, this transformation has not completely solved the problem of the Union's democratic deficit. Particularly limited are the Parliament's powers in foreign and security policy: they have not made significant advances since Maastricht and seem to be a mix of formal and informal influences stemming from practice. The role of the European Parliament in the Union and the powers of the assembly in the field of EU foreign policy are examined in the Quaderno with respect to the broader integration process, which has produced successive layers of treaty texts, an expression of the difficult compromise between opposite visions of the integration process. The role of the European Parliament in the future of European integration is therefore analysed in the light of the proposals for constitutional reform that emerged from the European Convention. While strengthening the role of the assembly, the Draft Treaty confirmed the hybrid mix of intergovernmental and supranational elements typical of the Union system. Secondly, the progressive affirmation of the EP's role is examined in relation to the ability of European political forces to make progress towards a real European party system. And finally, it is viewed in relation to the greater heterogeneity generated in the Union by the entry of ten new countries from central and southern Europe. The analyses, revised and updated for the Quaderno, were first presented and discussed at two conferences on the role of the European Parliament held in Parma and Turin in 2004. The Quaderno also contains the complete text of some of the interventions made at the round tables, a report summarising the debate at each conference, as well as important articles on the Draft Constitutional Treaty and some reference documents.