This book gives a comprehensive account of the drafting of the EU Charter in the first Convention and shows the important contribution of this process to the constitutional development of the European Union. By drawing on a body of empirical data from the Convention in 1999-2000 it shows how the debates about a catalogue of fundamental rights for the EU prior to enlargement triggered a much wider discussion about the basis and basics of European integration. Thus it can shed new light on the EU's ongoing search for legitimacy.

Autorentext
JUSTUS SCHÖNLAU is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for European Studies in Brussels. He has published widely on the subject of the EU constitutional process.

Inhalt
Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights - Legitimizing the European Union Legitimacy and Fundamental Rights What Kind of Legitimacy for the EU? Drafting the Charter in the Convention The Impact of the Charter Linking Rights, Process and Legitimacy Select Bibliography Appendix