Introduction: At a meeting in Rome on October 29, 2004 the participating European heads of states signed the newly-written constitution of the European Union. The document now has to be ratified by the EU member states. How this will be done varies from country to country: in twelve of the 25 members of the EU referenda will be held to approve the constitution (it should be noted that Lithuania became the first member of the EU to ratify the constitution when on November 11, 2004 the Lithuanian parliament voiced approval for the constitution by a vote of 84-5 (with three abstentions).

Clearly, this is the appropriate time for teachers to discuss the constitution of the European Union, its provisions, and the ramifications for Europe and for the world if and when it is actually approved.

Objective #1: Students will identify and analyze earlier treaties and agreements between European states that "set the stage" for the European Union constitution of 2004.

The teacher should analyze with the students (or have the students research) various agreements between European states in the post-World War II era that increased cooperation between member states, eventually leading to the European Union of today. All treaties and agreements are available on several websites dealing with the European Union, including the official website of the European Union.

Students should analyze the following treaties/agreements:

The Treaty of Paris (1951): established the European Steel and Coal Community

The Treaties of Rome (1957): established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community

The Single European Act (1986): established economic measures designed to solidify a common European market, established measures to create greater political cooperation between European states

The Maastricht Treaty (1992): formally established European Union citizenship and the European Monetary Union

The Amsterdam Treaty (1997): attempted to solidify political union between European states and establish procedures for further expansion of the EU

The Nice Treaty (2001): further defined procedures for EU enlargement and defined institutional changes necessary for enlargement

The Laeken Declaration (2001): established the Convention on the Future of Europe, which had a goal of consulting with leaders and groups across Europe and produce a draft of an EU constitution

NOTE: An appropriate procedure would be to divide students into groups and have small groups look at a single treaty or agreement in detail, after which the group could report to the larger class on their findings.

Objective #2: Students will identify and evaluate the chronology of efforts to create a working EU constitution since the Laeken Declaration, and will analyze the viewpoints of various countries toward the EU, the EU constitution, and the ratification process from 2001-2004.

Suggestion: From the official European Union website and others teachers should download appropriate material for their classes outlining the history of the ratification process for the EU constitution. Teachers should also review and make available articles from The Economist from the past three years that continually describe the ratification process and problems associated with it. (Note: this wonderful publication should be consulted by teachers when presenting anything on the EU or on European affaris).

After students are familiar with the basic history of the ratification process, they should then be encouraged to acquire the viewpoint of a single participating country toward the ratification process. Utilizing web research techniques, students should be able to discover appropriate journals and other publications from participating EU countries and find articles concerning the EU constitution and the ratification process. German, French, and English articles are relatively easy to come by: students should be encouraged to discover an eastern European viewpoint on the EU and the EU constitution.
Students may write an essay outlining their findings or present them to the class. It is important for them to attempt to offer explanations for the stance of an individual country toward the EU and the EU constitution.

Extension Activity: Have students engage in a mock debate , where they are representing participating countries in the EU and presenting their country’s position on the EU and the EU constitution. Before the debate they should do research on the basic economic, social, and political background of the country they will be representing, and analyze in detail their country’s position on the EU constitution (note: many of the very specific provisions of the constitution will be analyzed in the next lesson). When possible, students should reference the positions of their country toward the earlier treaties and agreements (listed above). Only countries whose positions on the EU and the EU constitution can be discovered through internet research should be included in this mock debate. Students should be evaluated on how accurately they present "their" country’s position on these important issues.