ABSTRACT
Architecturally, the combination of a 'confederal' institutional arrangement and a 'federal' legal arrangement seemed for a time to mark Europe's Sonderweg - its special way and identity. This chapter explains why the unique brand of European constitutional federalism - the status quo - represents not only its most original political asset but also its deepest set of values. Originally, in a fateful and altogether welcome decision, Europe rejected the federal state model. The constitutional discipline which Europe demands of its constitutional actors - the Union itself, the Member States and state organs, European citizens and others - is in most respects indistinguishable from that which you would find in advanced federal states. Conceptually, the disquiet with the current European constitutional arrangement must be understood against a European constitutional discourse, which for years has been dominated by a strange combination of Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt.
