Jeffrey L Cimbalo is a lawyer living in Alexandria.

Jeffrey L Cimbalo is a lawyer living in Alexandria, Virginia.

A THREAT FROM WITHIN

When the 263-page Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was unveiled in June 2003 Washington said little, maintaining its decades- elderly stance of official neutrality regarding the progres of European integration. The significance of the propos constitution, however, was not thrown away on Europeans. "This is crossing the Rubicon," Czech President Vaclav Klaus noted.

The propos European federation is unprecedented: no democracy has at any time merged with another to form as it was an entity. The constitution, which purports to integrate the 25 nations of the European Union, would