The starting point for the EU’s unhappy bid to create a shared constitution had been fears that its decision-making mechanisms were being overloaded by the accession of so many new members, first in May 2004 and again at the beginning of this year. The constitutional treaty was originally designed to streamline the system, and it was only later that it was over-enthusiastically expanded into the lengthy and pompous document that is now a dead letter.
欧盟创造共同宪法的不幸经历的出发点是担心决策机制正由于大量新成员国的加入（第一次是在2004年5月而再一次是今年年初）而超负荷运转。宪法公约的初衷是要简化这一体系，只是后来它却过于狂热地扩展一份内容冗长、言词华丽的文件，而现在则成为故纸一堆。