After two years of paralysis and doubt, the European Union is on the road again. The agreement reached by the European Council on 21 and 22 June is good news twice over.

Firstly, it is welcome for the substance. The least that can be said is that the essential elements of the innovations that made up the proposed Constitution have been preserved: practically all the institutional and legal changes to the treaty signed on 29 October 2004 are present in the 22 June conclusions concerning the ‘modified treaty’. And this time, the consensus required for parliamentary ratification wherever possible offers a solid guarantee against another ‘ratification accident’, to the extent that the new treaty should enter into force from June 2009, at the time of the next European parliamentary elections: if the agenda holds firm, the time lost by the French and Dutch referendum setbacks will have been largely made up.

Next, it is good news because of the general mind-set. The European leaders had not for a long time come to grips with the future of Europe in the way they did on Midsummer Day. A German Chancellor as astute as she was determined, a new French President putting his indefatigable dynamism to the service of the common cause, and also the Spanish, Italian, British, Luxembourg and Dutch prime ministers, shared in the teamwork, whilst the Czechs helped to persuade the Poles. Behind the media drama there emerges an encouraging picture, auguring well for the European political relaunch and going beyond the mere agreement on institutions.