Europe's constitutional retrofit

The various and diverse academic responses to the Conference on the Future of Europe's efforts at democratic renewal, including those by Ben Crum, Markus Patberg and Sandra Seubert, speak not only to the lack of a clear institutional locus or pathway associated with the Conference, but also to differing understandings of the basic conditions of existence - or political ontology - of the European Union. These differing understandings are reflected in different attitudes to the European Union's constitutional standing and prospects. This article explores how the special place of constitutional retrofitting in the European Union - of reconstructing and reimagining an originally pre-constitutional system in constitutional terms - helps to illuminate the different understanding of political ontology in play, and helps clarify what is at stake in the continuing debate over fundamental reform.