BBC News : Italy honours EU ex-constitution

Quote Originally Posted by BBC
The European Union constitution may be on ice but Italy is celebrating its first anniversary anyway, by issuing a new two-euro commemorative coin.

The constitution was signed by EU leaders in Rome on 28 October 2004, but was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands several months later.

The new coin, issued this week, depicts the goddess Europa holding a pen over the text of the constitution.
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The constitution can only become law if it is ratified by all 25 EU countries but France and the Netherlands are not likely to hold new referendums any time soon, and most experts say they will never vote again on the same text.
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"We all know the constitution is not going anywhere at this moment, so to make a commemorative coin is a bit odd," he said.
Sometimes the defeatism of the BBC amazes me. The EU constitution isn't dead, it just needs a bit longer to be approved (probably with some amendments). There is no mention of the exact text of the constitution. The idea of having a EU constitution was agreed in 2004, and that is what matters. The content of any constitution is anyway bound to change with time.

He pointed out that the euro itself had caused Italian public opinion to cool towards Europe, because prices rose after it was introduced.
That is because of Italian shop-keepers trying to profit from the confusion during the currency-change. It has little to do with the Euro itself. In fact, some things got cheaper since the Euro (flights, internet...), and some have got more expensive for other reasons (rising oil prices, inflation...).