What constitution? -- An elephant that cannot be defined? what the EU is, and is not -- Marking the territory: principles governing Union competencies -- Who is the boss? in search of a master of the treaties -- Looking past the trees to see the wood: construing a hierarchy of norms -- Into the estuaries and up the rivers: Union law in the national legal orders of the member states -- A lot more than Brussels bureaucrats: the institutional framework -- A suprematist composition? differentiation and flexibility -- What deficit? the EU system of democracy -- Civis Europeus sum: the evolving concept of Union citizenship -- Take rights more seriously? the EU system of fundamental rights -- Broadening horizons? the area of freedom, security and justice -- the internal market: liberal, social, green or chameleon? -- Building a house by starting with the roof? economic and monetary policy -- An elephant trumpeting loud and clear or a gaggle of geese? EU external relations -- Covenants of no strength to secure a man at all? issues of enforcement and control -- The elephant in the room? concluding remarks

1. Constitutional law -- European Union countries