The study designed to evaluate whether national Consitutions provide guidance for further EU integration, includes in-depth examinations of the constitutional systems of 12 Member States  (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom) and a bird’s eye view of all Member States. The authors - Leonard Besselink (ACELG), Jan-Herman Reestman (Constitutional Law UvA), Monica Claes and Šejla Imamović (both University Maastricht) - conclude that EU integration can be advanced by avoiding substantive constitutional obstacles in various ways. Overcoming the substantive obstacles requires managing national procedural constitutional hurdles. This is possible to the extent that the required broad political consensus exists.

This report was commissioned by the European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies.