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This means that we are only at the beginning of the real debate. The European Union is already a full-blown polity with a constitution.35 There are good democratic reasons for this to be so. If we are really committed to democracy, we should endorse the move from a messy and undefined constitution towards a drafted charter that has benefited from extended deliberation.36 This will allow us to start tackling the real democratic deficit at European level. We need to have a clear set of procedures, substantive values and criteria for the implementation of this. But this requires us to move forward, not backwards, in the process of European integration. Thus, Fischer's vision is basically correct. We can have both more of Europe and more of nation-states, but only if we dare to become the pouvoir constituant.
35 See, MacCormick (1999).
36 A similar idea can be found in Jean-Claude Piris, `Does the European Union have a Constitution? Does it need one?(Piris 2000). Philippe C. Schmitter puts forward an interesting proposal for a constitution-making process in his recent Comme democratizzare l'Unione Europea e perché (Schmitter 2000:145-55).