[en] he European Union, given its continental dimensions, is in an ideal position to provide solutions to citizen demands that States are no longer able to meet, and at the same time, in a position to participate in the influencing and determination of global policy. But the European Union paradoxically still maintains some of its initial characteristics, which are hardly compatible with the idea of democracy that is firmly rooted in the common constitutional traditions of the Member States and which the European Union itself advocates. Accordingly, the European Union finds itself in a transition process despite the fact that it has genuinely representative institutions which are linked to the construction of this new political reality. And as a result, it possess important elements of a democratic deficit, as demonstrated in aspects such as legitimacy, accountability, transparency and popular participation - a fact which generates a notable break or gap in the relationship established between the governing and the governed. So, the serious economical and financial crisis that is actually suffering the European Union, although it has finally forced most of the Member States, overcoming the initial resistance of some of them to reach a more complete coordination of their economic policies, has only been possible at the expense to cause a new democratic deficit of legitimacy of the Union. The reason is that the incipient European economic governance has been founded in an intergovernmental principle of functioning, as the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (the so-called "troika") have received the supervision and control competences in order to demand the right achievement of the proposed stability objectives previously defined in the Treaties. Therefore, we are still far from reaching the goal that expresses the ambition to shape a federal organisation fully based on the European democratic willpower. In sum, Europe needs a constitution to give democratic legitimacy to its institutions, determining their limited competences with the assumption of the due accountability for its actions. The current deficits of the European economic governance are just a consequence of the absence of a real political union. That is the reason of the necessity to open a constituent process. It will give to the European project the legitimacy and the credibility that now that not exist and that is required for its transformation in an exemplar European reply to the increasing challenges of a globalised world.

[es] La Unión Europea, habida cuenta de sus dimensiones continentales, se encuentra en una posición funcional idónea para ofrecer soluciones a las demandas ciudadanas que los Estados ya no son capaces de satisfacer, a la vez que influye y participa en la determinación de una política mundial. Pero la Unión Europea paradójicamente aún mantiene algunos de los rasgos que la caracterizan desde sus inicios, los cuales son difícilmente compatibles con la idea de democracia que se encuentra firmemente arraigada en las tradiciones constitucionales comunes a sus Estados miembros y que la propia Unión Europea dice auspiciar. De este modo revela encontrarse en un proceso de transición, a pesar de haberse dotado, a un tiempo, de de unas instituciones genuinamente representativas, vinculadas a la construcción de una nueva realidad jurídico-política, de naturaleza materialmente constitucional. La Unión Europea posee, así importantes elementos de déficit democrático, como se demuestra en lo que toca a aspectos tan relevantes como la legitimación, el control, la transparencia o la participación popular, lo que genera una brecha notable en la relación que se establece entre gobernantes y gobernados. Y la grave crisis económica y financiera que, en la actualidad, sufre el continente europeo, que obliga a los estados componentes de leconómico unificado, lo ha hecho a costa de generar un nuevo déficit de legitimidad democrática. No en vano, dicho gobierno descansa en un esquema de funcionamiento intergubernamental, al tiempo que discurre fuera, esencialmente, del marco normativo común establecido en los Tratados constitutivos de la Unión Europea. De ese modo, el déficit democrático de la Unión no sólo sigue presente, sino que se ha agudizado con ocasión del advenimiento de la crisis actual, al revelar la carencia de una auténtica unión política. En consecuencia, Europa necesita de una constitución que otorgue legitimidad a sus instituciones, delimitando sus competencias, sujetas a un efectivo control. Semejante proceso constituyente debería ser el tema central de las elecciones europeas de 2014, a fin de convertir al proyecto europeo en respuesta ejemplar a los desafíos crecientes de un mundo globalizado.