MemHT Portal “The pooling of coal and steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of common  foundations for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe.”
- Schumann Declaration on the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, 9 May 1950

 "The Constitution is the capstone of a European Federal State."
- Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister, Financial Times, 21 June 2004

"From the inside it looks like an arrangement based on Treaties between States. From the outside it looks like a State itself."
- Jens-Peter Bonde, From EU Constitution to Lisbon Treaty

"The State may ratify the Treaty of Lisbon and may be a member of the European Union established   by virtue of that Treaty. No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State, before, on or after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, that are necessitated by membership of the European Union…or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the said European Union or institutions thereof from having the force of law in the State.”
- Amendment to the Irish Constitution which cleared the way for the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009 ]]>