Dal Libro Bianco sulla "governanza" al processo costituente europeo

With Laeken's meeting of 15-16 december a new entity was born, the Convention, which received the mandate of drawing the European Constitution. The Author poses the question of what is the necessary attribute to qualify the process as a constitutional one. The answer is democratic legitimacy, an attribute that does not qualify the Convention, given that it has not been elected by people, therefore popular consultation remains the only way to confer it the quality it lacks. But the referendum opens a series of problems: what kind of referendum? A national or a European one? Furthermore when the European Constitution enters in force, it might be incompatible with national ones, which of them will prevale? In addtion, the problem of conflict of jurisdiction could arise between national Constitutional Courts and their European counterpart.