Constitutional Treaties of the European Union

The treaties functioning as a constitution without a state, from Rome to Lisbon.

Overview

The EU rests on treaties, from the 1957 Treaty of Rome through Maastricht 1992, the failed 2004 constitutional treaty rejected by French and Dutch referendums, and the 2007 Lisbon Treaty that salvaged its substance. Together they confer direct effect and supremacy on EU law, doctrines the Court of Justice built from the 1960s, and organize competences among union and member states with a parliament, council, court, and charter of fundamental rights. It is a constitutional order of pooled sovereignty without statehood, the most advanced experiment in supranational constitutionalism, and the reference point for integration theory.