Boroviak Comments on EU Constitution

Release: March 2002

With European Union officials meeting this month to create a unified constitution, a European integration scholar at Wheaton sees "significant obstacles" on the road to progress. Darlene Boroviak, professor of political science and international relations, maintains that linguistic, political and cultural barriers may prove extremely difficult to overcome.

"The Euro has been a success," she says, "as have other economic, credentialing and open-border initiatives." The problem, she says, is the depth of the divisions regarding how Europeans view themselves and the world outside the EU.

"Each country has a separate history," says Boroviak, who teaches the popular "European Integration" class at Wheaton. "And the view that accompanies each of these distinct cultural stories complicates how they are willing to cooperate on non-economic issues--domestically and internationally." To draft a constitution accordingly, she argues, will be a monumental task.

The constitutional process began in early March, but Boroviak anticipates the process to take "at least a year." She says she expects the Europeans to have a certain level of success. "They're very good at declaring themselves successful," she says. "But only time, hard work and pressure to make the constitution succeed will see the process through."

More on Professor Boroviak and her work can be found at:
http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Faculty/DarleneLBoroviak.html

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