Spinelli ’ s criticism of the functionalist model – radically expressed at the time of the birth of the European Communities with the Treaties of Rome (‘ the mockery of the Common Market ’, wrote Spinelli in 1957 ) – never came to an end , not even when he acknowledged the federalist opportunities offered by the community construction .
The functionalist approach – which Jacques Delors , president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995 , subsequently defined as ‘ the step-by-step method ’ – was continually challenged by Spinelli . He did not accept the idea that a lasting and effective union could be created gradually while keeping the various sectors of the life of the state ’ s separate from each other , leaving until the end the creation of a democratic and federal power .
To this approach – after taking stock of the failure of the revolutionary project advocated by the Manifesto – Spinelli preferred a constitutional method : he claimed the need for a European constitution based on a federal model , with a parliamentary assembly as the political space to discuss it , as has happened in all our countries , where the democratic constitutions were written either by a constituent assembly or by a parliament elected by the citizens for such purpose .
The constitutional position of Spinelli has appeared to be very relevant in the last thirty years of European history , and even before that , when he was a Commissioner and tried to persuade the Commission to follow a federal path for the construction of the European Union .
In line with this approach , the project of the European Parliament – approved on 14 February 1984 – put the realization of the political unity of Europe before economic and monetary unification , while the
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