What are the limits of european expansion?
Author InfoRossi, Leonor Abstract During the last days of the year 2003 twenty-five European countries failed to come to terms with all demands enclosed within the project of a Constitution for Europe. Everyone went home. Now nothing is agreed upon before all is agreed upon, and hopes are high that the Irish Presidency will manage to bring about a satisfactory covenant sometime in the Spring. In the meantime, a secession clause has crept into the agenda for Europe quietly. Article 59 of the upcoming Constitution allows any Member State, and thus all Member States, to leave the Treaty at will and in the process, entitles them to a bilateral agreement that clarifies the terms of such a procedure. The Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice had addressed the issue of suspension of a Member State s voting rights but halted at the threshold of secession. Their unwillingness to go further had made it very clear to Member States that agreement and compromise was the only answer allowed when European i
