A New Holy Roman Empire?

With the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome approaching, the European Union is once again revved up by the idea of a formal constitution.
A union of some of the world’s most powerful and industrialized nations, the EU is integrating with the rest of the world economically and politically. In coming this far, the union has shed a lot of the continent’s history of carnage and convulsions. It is worth recalling that a key propellant of the Rome Treaty was the urgency to stop Europe’s internecine wars.
A common market, free trade area, open borders are but aspects of integration. A full-fledged constitution would formalize the quest for commonness gripping the continent as well as the aspirations of quarters beyond.
Eighteen of the 27 member states have ratified the draft constitution. Britain, the Czech Republic and Poland want a new, slimmed-down mini treaty. French and Dutch voters have altogether rejected it in referendums held over a year ago.
Creating a permanent president and foreign ministry, the logical culmination of full union, would be as arduous as working out the precise schedule for the entry of Turkey as a member.
Less palpable, though, is the suspicion that the European project is some kind of Catholic conspiracy. After all, four of the six original countries were mainly Catholic and most of the founding fathers were devout believers. Furthermore, European Christian Democracy is rooted in Catholicism. It is perhaps no accident that Catholic newcomers such as Spain and Portugal have found it easier to adapt to the EU than have Protestant members such as Britain or Sweden.