On 29 October 2004, in Rome, in the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the plenipotentiaries of the 25 Member States signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The single original is in 21 equally authentic languages, deposited with the Government of the Italian Republic. OJ C 310 of 16 December 2004 publishes the text. It is not the Treaty of Lisbon of 2007, which amended the existing treaties instead of repealing them.

Article I-1 establishes the European Union, on which the Member States confer competences. Article I-6: the Constitution and law adopted by the institutions, in the exercise of conferred competences, shall have primacy over the law of the Member States. Article I-7 gives the Union legal personality. Article I-8 fixes the flag of twelve stars, the anthem based on the “Ode to Joy”, the motto “United in diversity”, the euro as the currency and Europe Day on 9 May.

Article I-9 recognises the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which forms Part II, and provides for Union accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. Article I-11: the limits of competences are governed by conferral; their use, by subsidiarity and proportionality. Competences not conferred remain with the Member States.

Article I-28 creates the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, appointed by the European Council by qualified majority with the agreement of the President of the Commission. He or she conducts the CFSP, chairs the Foreign Affairs Council and is a Vice-President of the Commission. Article I-26 reduces, after a transitional period, the number of Commissioners below the number of Member States, by equal rotation.

Article IV-437 would have repealed the Treaty establishing the European Community and the Treaty on European Union, subject to the protocol exceptions. Article IV-446 concludes the Treaty for an unlimited period. Article IV-447: ratification in accordance with domestic constitutional requirements; deposit in Rome; entry into force on 1 November 2006 if all instruments are deposited, otherwise on the first day of the second month after the last deposit. That condition was not met.

The referendums in France on 29 May 2005 and in the Netherlands on 1 June 2005 rejected the Treaty. The Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 December 2007, is a separate instrument: it amends the TEU and the TEC, does not replace them with a single constitution and does not take over Article I-8 on the symbols.

Image: Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii, Palazzo dei Conservatori, place of signature; Burkhard Mücke, 21 October 2017; CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Treaty text: Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Rome, 29 October 2004 (OJ C 310).