1st Anniversary of the European Constitution

Europa with the text of the European Constitution and a bull; the inscription "Costituzione Europea"; the twelve stars of the European Union; the year 2005; the state abbreviation RI; the coin designer's initials MCC; and the Rome Mint mark R.

Italy was among the driving forces behind the project of a European Constitution. As a founding member of the European Community and a signatory of the 1957 Treaties of Rome, the country always saw itself as a core state of European integration. The Constitutional Treaty, signed in Rome in October 2004, was therefore more than a bureaucratic act for Italy: it directly connected to the city's history as the cradle of the modern idea of Europe. The signing ceremony deliberately took place in the Eternal City, in the same Capitol where the foundations of the EEC had been laid nearly five decades earlier.

The Constitutional Treaty was meant to consolidate the treaty architecture the EU had built up over time into a single, coherent document and to ensure the functioning of a Union expanded to 25 members. It included a Charter of Fundamental Rights, clearer delineation of competences between the EU and member states, and new institutional structures, including the office of a permanent Council president. After signing, the treaty had to be ratified by all member states; Italy gave its parliamentary approval in 2005. That the process ultimately failed — referendums in France and the Netherlands rejected the treaty — turned the undertaking into a lesson on the limits of European willingness to unite. Italy issued the coin in 2005 to mark the first anniversary of the signing.