LONDON -- History will certainly record the moment. A group of upper-class white men, having sequestered themselves for days, emerged to declare they'd hammered out a constitution that would eventually create a more perfect union.
Philadelphia, 1787? No. Brussels, 2004.
The leaders of 25 European nations agreed to a constitution there on June 18. But in Europe, nothing comes easily.
For instance, if you assume the American constitutional process started with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it took us 11 years to achieve a United States. Here, they've already been trying, and failing, to craft a United States of Europe since the Treaty of Rome in 1957. That's 47 years and counting.
Back in the 18th century, we started with a bald statement that all men were endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Here, they argued over whether to even mention God in the constitution.
God lost out, mostly because of French opposition. Even the Germans wanted Him in there. So if you want to call them "Godless French," please feel free.
But churches here can stay open, if only because this constitution is a long way from official. Way back when, we had to get 13 former colonies to agree to give up a handful of their newly-won freedoms to a federal government. And, despite what recent Supreme Court rulings might lead one to believe, our Constitution was pretty clear about what powers it did, and did not, assign to the federal government.
Europe's new constitution is exactly the opposite. It runs to 300 pages, and even the leaders who voted for it don't exactly agree on what it says.
"I don't think there is consensus in Europe for some federal superstate,? British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced. ?That has gone as an idea." Blair served as the leader of "new" Europe during this constitutional process, working hard to keep certain powers (the right to tax, control of foreign policy) in the hands of individual governments instead of moving them to Brussels.
Not surprisingly, "old" European leaders disagreed. Prime Minister Jacques Chirac of France insists the constitution would create "a federation of states, but also of peoples." And Belgium's leader called the constitution, "the capstone of a federal European state."
Perhaps the most uplifting thing to see, from an American perspective, is the acceptance of the idea of an "old" and "new" Europe. That concept was mocked in the American press when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld first mentioned it. Today, it's used without irony by British newspapers to describe Europe's voting blocks.