During 2005 and 2006, the flow of EU directives, regulations, and associated reports, green papers, and communications continued at the same rate as the 2,800 a year chalked up in 1996, when Jacques Delors was at the helm of the European Commission and the EU project was being widely hailed as unstoppable. Brussels is nowadays a government town akin to Washington, D.C, even if it is also a place where complex negotiations among the Union’s 27 members grind forward only slowly.
然而，有迹象表明即便在没有宪法的情况下，欧盟机器也一直都能运转良好。欧盟去年的立法量几乎和十年以前相同。在2005年和2006年，一系列的欧盟指令、法规和相关报告、绿皮书和通讯继续保持在1996年2800件的总量水平上。当年正值Jacques Delors掌舵欧盟，而欧盟工程被广泛称道为势不可挡。布鲁塞尔现今是一个与华盛顿类似的政府所在地，即便它也是一个欧盟27个成员国间错综复杂的谈判在磕绊中缓慢进展的地方。