Since the French and Dutch voters rejected the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, in May and June 2005 respectively, politicians and lawyers have been confronted with the question of how to move forward. This book strives to formulate answers on the question of what to do if not all the Member States ratify the Treaty. It brings together contributions from over 50 experts from the 25 Member States, from candidate, potential candidate and neighbouring countries, as well as from Russia and the US. Key topics covered are: the process and impact of EU constitution-making; the...

In 2004, ten countries joined the European Union as Member States and five others (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey) had or received (pre-)candidate country status. EU accession requires significant adaptations in the laws and policies of a country. In order to analyse the impact of these developments and support the countries concerned, the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague initiated a project which started in early 2003 and concluded during the Dutch EU presidency in October 2004. The fifteen country reports resulting from that project, written by national...