Shortly before the European Council reached political agreement on the European Constitutional Treaty (18 June 2004), the Conseil constitutionnel [the French constitutional court], rendered a decision on the relationship between (secondary) community law and the French Constitution that will still be pivotal once the Constitutional Treaty has entered into force. Taken on 10 June 2004, the decision was only made public five days later. The Conseil feared that it would be presented as ‘a French abdication in the face of the European institutions’ and might influence the elections for the European Parliament of 13 June 2004.
