There are TWO countervaling tendencies in the EU: (1) DEVOLUTION, as nations devolve more power to more local governments, and as more nations come into existence (prinicipally in Eastern Europe, but also in the UK and Spain and Italy and Belgium); (2) FEDERALIZATION, as the continient tries to unify across the traditional nation-state boundaries (which in Europe are more defined, distinctive and divergent than almost anywhere else).
One of these trends tends to give people a sense of greater control. The other tends to give people a sense of loss of control. SO... of course a majority of people will reject the trend which they think reduces the control they have over their government and their lives.
For the EU to succeed as a federation - and to do that they MUST pass a constitution - the EU leaders must come up with a TRANSPARENTLY DEMOCRATIC EU FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, and one with TRANSPARENT TAXES AND BUDGETS. Only a transparently democratic, responsive, and transparently fair (on the tax & spend side) federal government will make a majority of Europeans unafraid of adding another layer of bureaucracy to their lives.
If they fail to REFORM their nation states - FIRST - and then to reform the EU bureacracy, then they will NEVER have a true "Continental Congress" (pun intended) and they will never have a continental federation.
I'm an optimist. I believe they will eventually succeed - circa 2015.
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