No U.S. of E.

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

The head of the forum writing the European Union’s new constitution unveiled a rough draft this week that includes a proposal to give the E.U. a “single legal personality.” That would enable it to sit on international bodies, such as the U.N. Security Council. Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who led the drafting effort, says the new constitution will provide for a stronger central government and a bill of rights. European diplomats will wrestle over the exact wording next year, and fighting between federalists, who want a U.S.-style presidency, and nationalists, who want a loose union, is expected to be fierce. All they agree on so far is that, as one British official told Reuters, “There is not a cat in hell’s chance of it being called the United States of Europe.”