The Presidium of the European Convention approved the draft preamble of the future constitutional Treaty of the Union on 28 May. This is the last act before the “final sprint” of the members of the Convention on the whole draft Treaty in the plenary sessions scheduled for the first half of June. The draft Treaty will then be presented to the European summit in Salonika (Greece) on 20 June. Here’s the full text of the draft preamble, which opens with a quotation from Thucydides, Greek historian born in Athens in 460 BC: “Our Constitution is called democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority, but of the whole people…”. (Thucydides II, 37) “Conscious that Europe is a continent rich in civilization; that its inhabitants, who arrived in successive waves since the dawn of mankind, have progressively developed in it the values that are at the basis of humanism: equality of human beings, freedom, respect for reason; Inspired by the cultural, religious and humanistic legacies of Europe, which were first nourished by Greek and Roman civilization, then marked by the spiritual impulse that traversed Europe and continues to be present in its heritage, and later by the philosophic currents of the Enlightenment, and which have rooted in the life of society its perception of the central role of the human person, of his inviolable and inalienable rights and of the rule of law; Convinced that Europe, by now reunified, intends to pursue this course of civilization, progress and prosperity for the good of all its inhabitants, including the more vulnerable and needy; that it wishes to remain a continent open to culture, knowledge and social progress; and that it desires to strengthen the democratic and transparent character of its public life and work in favour of peace, justice and solidarity in the world; Persuaded that the peoples of Europe, though remaining proud of their identity and their national history, are determined to overcome ancient divisions and, united ever more closely, to forge their common destiny; Certain that, ‘united in its diversity’, Europe offers the best chance of continuing, in recognition of the rights of each person and in the consciousness of their responsibility to future generations and to the Earth, the great adventure that makes it a privileged space of human hope”. (comment on page 1)
