AS HE dodges between the forked tongues and canapés in Brussels, George W. Bush can be thankful for one thing. He has to dine only with the colourful politicians who think that they lead Europe, not with the 25 sober judges who are increasingly shaping its future.

The politicians’ flaws are at least entertaining: M Chirac’s love of fruit; Signor Berlusconi’s fear of prosecution. Of the judges on the European Court of Justice (ECJ), we know nothing. While Americans debate the health of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and whether the Supreme Court will shift to the right, few Europeans know even the names of those who sit on Europe’s supreme court.

Invisibility is not impotence. In interpreting the spirit of an integrationist Europe, the ECJ has a duty to keep extending its scope. It has ruled, for example, that public health is covered by single market legislation because health is a service, and services can be traded. Its rulings on cross-border tax disputes are slowly eroding national vetoes on tax. The can is open. And the vague wording of the 300-page EU constitution is a licence for lawyers to worm their way into all sorts of new areas.

Vassilios Skouris, the ECJ president, said last year that the EU constitution will bring new areas under the court’s jurisdiction. He contradicted the UK Government by stating that the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which the court already cites in judgments, could have full legal force.

The constitution in fact gives EU law primacy over national laws. But, hey, politicians don’t bother with the small print. As Spain’s Justice Minister, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, has said: “You don’t have to read the treaty to know it’s a good thing.” In drafting the EU constitution, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing saw himself as Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton rolled into one. He promised statues to his fellow drafters. It is a shame that he did not think to study the inexorable creep of centralising and judicial power which has been part and parcel of America’s federal experience. The Founding Fathers never foresaw how much power the Supreme Court would gain.

Europe’s leaders are too smug to seek American advice on constitutions this week. But the people of Europe should start asking for the names and political affiliations of the judges that their leaders have appointed.