PROBLEMS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Abstract
Introduction. The article examines the most important aspects of the issues of EU constitutional law, namely the nature of European constitutionalism, European values and identity, the relationship between the optimal European model and global governance. The author substantiates the opinion that, for the first time in the process of European integration, today it is possible to notice a discrepancy between the "material" and "legal" Constitution. Therefore, it seems to be a valid position regarding the possibility of revising the treaties that make up the current Constitution of Europe. Interdisciplinary and institutionalized research among academics on current issues of EU constitutional law, in particular, the current state of the European constitutional process, its possible evolution and potential application to global governance can contribute to making the current debate on the future of the EU and international relations more effective. Although the European constitutional process today has certain flaws, the EU has nevertheless managed to legitimize itself through the affirmation of an identity that synthesizes democratic values and citizenship status for Europeans.
Summary of the main research results. A constitutional model for Europe should take into account the democratic ideals and constitutional cultures existing in the EU, studying both the relationship between various traditions and identities, and the possibilities of integrating existing political interests into the common interests of European subjects, as problems related with the question of how sovereignty should be defined and distributed. The European Constitution should become the first model of constitutional pluralism. The ultimate goal of the European constitutional process is the creation of a new model of supranational democracy, which should be based on the progressive formation of a single demos. We believe that this is not only a question of governance, which in itself can be autocratic or democratic sui generis, but it is a question of the spread of democracy beyond the borders of the nation-state (merging the nation with the state). Therefore, the completion of the EU democratization process will mean the historical end of nationalism (ideology of the nation state), the "natural" political division of Europe into nation states and the beginning of a supranational course of European history. The fundamental values of European civilization, such as political ideologies (liberalism, democracy, socialism and nationalism), mode of production (capitalism), intellectual and moral paradigms (philosophy, science, civil and social rights), were first tested in history in Europe, and hence exported on a planetary scale, gradually turning into a universal model of behavior. They have become constitutive values of the identity of a modern person. This is precisely the irresistible force of the European magnet. The values that were initiated in Europe are today the common property of humanity and are the universally recognized standard for measuring the degree of cultural, political and moral development of a people. Values are historically determined, that is, they are written into history, which makes them gradually meaningful and concretely achievable from time to time. The European revolution should be the crowning and completion of the democratic revolution. The European revolution should lead to a global rethinking of the system of categories by which the world and the state of human rights are imagined. It seems that the central problem of our time is no longer connected only with the issue of achieving a higher degree of freedom, equality or social justice, in our opinion, today the problem of organizing peaceful and constitutional relations between nations and states is relevant. If we accept the point of view that the historical novelty of our time coincides with the issue of political integration of humanity, then it seems logical that the European constitutional process is of great importance for the rest of the world.
Conclusions. The conclusion that the key reason for the existence of the EU is not in the protection of a certain cultural, racial or religious identity, but in a specific effective method of resolving conflicts between states is justified. As for the concept of European identity, it is mistakenly believed that it is not clearly defined or that it is identified by the sum of national identities. National identities are the product of national ideologies, and the era of nationalisms was only a brief hiatus in European history. Its roots are on the surface, while European unity, on the contrary, has very deep roots. The expansion and deepening of NATO, the core of which is the G7, based on the principle of conditionality regarding democratic constitutionalism, governance capacity and economic transformation, will thus lead to a planetary expansion of the orbit of democratic rule and provide an opportunity to prevent the formation of an antagonistic system such as the Soviet one. A simple union of nationalisms cannot really be lasting or effective because its nature is antagonistic and confrontational. On the contrary, the Atlantic system will continue to exert an irresistible force on the rest of the world
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