摘要：The enlargement of the European Union, the attempt to put together a constitution we can all live with, the divisions rendered raw by passionately opposed positions on the prosecution of the so-called “War on Terror” are just some of the issues which make identifying oneself as European so damn confusing of late. The inaugural conference of the European Society of International Law, held at New York University's Villa La Pietra in Florence on 13 – 15 May 2004, saw the question of what precisely Europe is fall to the international lawyers to answer. The process of drafting a European constitution had already provided the constitutionalists with the opportunity to ponder what it is that defines us and, more specifically, distinguishes us from our American cousins; in Florence, the international lawyers had their turn to mull over such questions.
