The European Finality Debate and Its National Dimensions

"This is an outstanding collection of major essays on the burning issues facing the European community. No one concerned with the European finality debate, whether scholar or policymaker, can afford to miss it." —Amitai Etzioni, University Professor, The George Washington University

Leading EU and U.S. observers of the continuing debate over Europe's future offer incisive analysis from the perspectives of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, as well as the European Commission, Poland, Russia, and the United States. As the Convention on the Future of the European Union concludes its deliberations on a new constitution for Europe, many of the questions raised in this timely book will continue to bedevil European political leaders and their electorates for years to come. Although both EU and non-EU countries share a certain idea, if not a clear design, of a "finality" for Europe, this volume illustrates that the idea takes on different shapes across as well as within countries. How to define Europe's finality is as much a question of political and institutional transformation as it is a question of ultimate borders. Even then, the finality debate cannot be final without a parallel debate about Europe's relations with the United States in the context of a community of action, defined by Europeans and Americans, for managing the vast range of interests and values they share.

Simon Serfaty is director of the CSIS Europe Program and eminent scholar and professor at Old Dominion University.