Les valeurs du projet de Constitution peuvent-elles fonder un imaginaire européen?
Do the Values Embeded in the Project of Constitution support a commun European Imaginary?

Summary/Abstract: Among the texts laying the political foundation of Europe, the Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is no doubt a remarkable exposé of the values, concepts and references forming its ideological cornerstone. Its recent rejection by the French and the Dutch, however, raises an essential question: will the values that the text promotes as its foundation, really suffice to create this communal identity so much sought after? To answer that question, we have applied to the draft Constitution a semantical, historical and even anthropological method of analysis, with a view to revealing the values, conceptions, hopes and expectations of its authors, and thus comprehending the imagination, or imaginaire, of the European political elite. The scope and limits of this imaginaire, in other words its actual capability to coalesce the consciences and willingness of the citizens of the Union, are the subject of this paper.

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