Analysis: The document that will shape Europe's future

After months of haggling, Brussels has unveiled the text of its new constitution. The implications for Europe's citizens are far-reaching

Shorter, clearer, more comprehensible. The constitution now being drafted for the EU is supposed to match all these adjectives, and its authors are not finding their task easy.

The convention on the future of Europe, chaired by the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, is trying to amalgamate the EU's existing treaties and its 80,000 pages of law into one constitutional text. And if the linguistic and legal problems are formidable, M. Giscard's political ones are even greater. With the EU preparing to expanded to include 10 new countries, M. Giscard's convention is made up of 105 politicians from 28 existing and would-be EU countries.

The centre of gravity is pro-integrationist, but the range of opinions is enormous. From Britain alone, the representatives include one avowedly federalist MEP, a Blairite cabinet minister, and a Eurosceptic who resigned from John Major's government over policy on the EU.

No text is going to please everyone, as the publication yesterday of the first draft of the first 16 articles of the new constitution proved. Here are some of its important elements:

Article 1: Establishment of the Union "Reflecting the will of the people and the States of Europe to build a common future, this Constitution establishes a Union ... within which the policies of the Member States shall be co-ordinated, and which shall administer certain common competences on a federal basis".

The word "federal" means different things in different countries. In Germany it is used to describe a highly decentralised system. Yet the use of the "f-word" is a red rag to several countries, most notably the UK, where its connotations are of the "superstate" of Eurosceptic nightmares. True, there is no mention of "ever closer union", the objective outlined in existing treaties. But the most logical place for this to go would be in the declaratory preamble, which has not yet been written.

Article 2: The Union's values "The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights ... . Its aim is a society at peace, through the practice of tolerance, justice and solidarity".

Despite pressure from Christian Democratic parties and the Vatican, there is no reference to God. Again, however, religious identity may be included in the constitution's as yet unwritten preamble.

Article 4: Legal personality "The Union shall have legal personality". It means the EU can sign international treaties and could, potentially, sit on bodies such as the United Nations.

Article 5: Fundamental Rights "The Charter of Fundamental Rights shall be an integral part of the Constitution." The charter, which spells out social rights for EU citizens, has no formal legal force. Britain is anxious that it should stay that way, so that, for example, the European Court of Justice cannot interfere with British employment law. This formulation would almost certainly make the charter legally enforceable throughout the EU.

Article 7: Citizenship of the Union "Every national of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to national citizenship; it shall not replace it. All citizens of the Union, women and men, shall be equal before the law." As one diplomat put it, this "makes clear that you will not be going to Brussels to pick up your passport". The article goes on to explain the benefits of this citizenship, including the "right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States."

Article 9: Application of fundamental principles "In exercising the Union's non-exclusive competences, the Institutions shall apply the principle of subsidiarity as laid down in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Constitution." This almost incomprehensible statement aims to guarantee that the EU does not try to take over functions which should be left to national or regional governments. It promises to lay down an "early warning system" whereby national parliaments can step in if they think their powers are being usurped.

Article 11: Exclusive competences "The Union shall have exclusive competence to ensure free movement of persons, goods, services and capital and establish competition rules, within the internal market, and in the following areas: customs union, common commercial policy, monetary policy for the Member States who have adopted the euro, the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy." Thetext divides the EU's powers into different categories in an effort to sort out who does what. "Exclusive competences" are ones where the EU rules supreme. But all the detail is spelled out in the second part of the constitution. This, say British diplomats, could confuse, rather than clarify, the situation.

Article 12: Shared Competences "Shared competence applies in the following principal areas: internal market, area of freedom, security and justice, agriculture and fisheries, transport, trans-European networks, energy, social policy, economic and social cohesion, environment, public health and consumer protection." These are areas where the EU and national governments share powers. Again the UK argues that it will provoke legal arguments.

Article 13: The co-ordination of economic policies "The Union shall co-ordinate the economic policies of the Member States, in particular by establishing broad guidelines for these policies. Member States shall conduct their economic policies, taking account of the common interest, so as to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Union. Specific provisions shall apply to those Member States which have adopted the euro." Eurosceptics fear it may lead down a slippery slope to European economic government. In fact the third sentence is more important because it means that the 12 countries that belong to the eurozone could make their own rules for their club.

Article 14: The common foreign and security policy "Member States shall actively and unreservedly support the Union's foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity." Either this was drafted before the recent public rows and divisions over Iraq, or the author has a wicked sense of humour.

Article 15: Areas for supporting action: "The areas for supporting action are: employment, industry, education, vocational training and youth, culture, sport, protection against disasters." Lays down areas where the EU's powers are limited and makes it clear that here new laws "cannot entail harmonisation of Member States' laws and regulations".

Last night Euro-integrationists were happier than defenders of the nation state, but at this stage M. Giscard needs to win the support of the convention. That may give him latitude later on to make concessions to defenders of the nation state.

That, perhaps, is why the UK government's representative on the convention, the Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain, managed to sound optimistic last night, despite his evident alarm. "This is the first draft and, as far as we are concerned, it is very far from being the last," he said.