Stefan Berger (Manchester): History and National Identity: Why They Should Remain Divorced. Alexander Somek (Iowa): Postconstitutional Treaty. Thomas Diez (Birmingham): Expanding Europe: The Ethics of EU-Turkey Relations. The relationship between Turkey and the European Union needs a fresh debate based on reason, evidence, and understanding not fear and prejudice; a group of leading European intellectuals and analysts introduces this initiative and invites responses. The Albanian majority in Kosovo will no longer be bound by the UN-brokered truce — and the fallout could be disastrous. A Balkan fable: Slovenia tries its hand at writing a happy ending for the former Yugoslavia. Time to go down to the cellar: Europe cannot continue to ignore Ukraine's buried history. From European Law Books, a review of The Hidden Handshake: National Identity and Europe in the Post-Communist World by Ales Debeljak; a review of The Unity of the European Constitution; a review of National Parliaments and European Democracy: A Bottom-up Approach to European Constitutionalism; a review of Families and the European Union: Law, Politics, and Pluralism by Clare McGlynn. From Cafe Babel, a series of articles on how Lisbon, in an apparent European periphery, is the center of polemic, trends and European rendezvous; and the Portuguese and current president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso could be re-elected after his mandate expires in June 2009.
