Surrendering sovereignty.(Between The Lines)(drafting the European Union consitution)

ITEM: "After 16 months of arduous negotiations, framers of the European Union's first constitution finalized their draft charter ... but failed to settle differences over how much power national governments would cede to Brussels," read an Associated Press report in the San Francisco Chronicle. Said the AP on July 10th: "The constitution is supposed to streamline decision-making in the EU when it expands from 15 to 25 members in May."

BETWEEN THE LINES: When it comes to preserving national sovereignty, the delegates of the growing European superstate debated between bad and worse. The proposed constitution makes government more centralized and remote in the hands of bureaucratic masters in Brussels. Any expectation that a 70,000-word document would streamline the existing 97,000 pages of EU regulations is feebleminded.

While the U.S. Constitution (in some 4,500 words) restricts and enumerates the specific powers of the central government, the 260-page European document does the reverse. It promulgates endless controversial rights. There's a constitutional "right for paid maternity leave and to parental leave." The death penalty is prohibited. There's the Orwellian right to "receive a free compulsory ...