Treaty of Lisbon

For other uses, see Treaty of Lisbon (disambiguation).

Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community
File:Treaty of Lisbon (transparent).png
Type	Amender of previous treaties
Drafted	7–8 September 2007
Signed	13 December 2007
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Sealed	18 December 2007
Effective	1 January 2009 or later
Condition	ratified by all Member States
Signatories	EU Member States
Depositary	Government of Italy
Languages	23 EU languages
Full text
Treaty of Lisbon at Wikisource

The Treaty of Lisbon (also known as the Reform Treaty) is a treaty designed to streamline the workings of the European Union (EU) with amendments to the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC, Rome), the latter being renamed Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in the process. The stated aim of the treaty is "to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action"

Prominent changes introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon include more qualified majority voting in the EU Council, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended codecision with the EU Council, reduction of the number of Commissioners from 27 to 18, eliminating the pillar system, and the creation of a President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs to present a united position on EU policies (see more below). If ratified, the Treaty of Lisbon would also make the Charter of Fundamental Rights (human rights provisions) legally binding.

The negotiations on modifying the EU institutions began in 2001, first resulting in the European Constitution, which failed due to rejection in French and Dutch referendums. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon (as Portugal held the EU Council's Presidency at the time), and was planned to have been ratified in all member states by the end of 2008, so it could come into force before the 2009 European elections. However, the rejection of the Treaty on 12 June 2008 by the Irish electorate has created uncertainty in this regard.

History

Background

Further information: History of the European Constitution

The need to review the EU's constitutional framework, particularly in light of the accession of ten new Member States in 2004, was highlighted in a declaration annexed to the Treaty of Nice in 2001. The agreements at Nice had paved the way for further enlargement of the Union by reforming voting procedures. The Laeken declaration of December 2001 committed the EU to improving democracy, transparency and efficiency, and set out the process by which a constitution aiming to achieve these aims could be created. The European Convention was established, presided over by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and was given the task of consulting as widely as possible across Europe with the aim of producing a first draft of the Constitution. The final text of the proposed Constitution was agreed upon at the summit meeting on 18–19 June 2004 under the presidency of Ireland.

File:Famconst.jpg

'Family photo' after the 2004 signing of the Constitution in Rome

The Constitution, having been agreed by heads of government from the 25 Member States, was signed at a ceremony in Rome on 29 October 2004. Before it could enter into force, however, it had to be unanimously ratified by each member state. Ratification took different forms in each country, depending on the traditions, constitutional arrangements, and political processes of each country. In 2005, referendums held in the Netherlands and France rejected the European Constitution. While the majority of the Member States already had ratified the European Constitution (mostly through parliamentary ratification, although Spain and Luxembourg held referendums), due to the requirement of unanimity to amend the constitutional treaties of the EU, it became clear that it could not enter into force. This led to a "period of reflection" and the political end of the proposed European Constitution.

New impetus

50th anniversary in the summer of 2007, Berlin. (Merkel and Barroso)

In 2007, Germany took over the rotating EU Presidency and declared the period of reflection over. By March, the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the Berlin Declaration was adopted by all Member States. This declaration outlined the intention of all Member States to agree on a new treaty in time for the 2009 Parliamentary elections, that is to have a ratified treaty before mid-2009.

Already before the Berlin Declaration, the Amato Group (officially the Action Committee for European Democracy, ACED)– a group of European politicians, backed by the Barroso Commission with two representatives in the group – worked unofficially on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (EU Constitution). On 4 June 2007, the group released their text in French – cut from 63,000 words in 448 articles in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to 12,800 in 70 articles. In the Berlin Declaration, the EU leaders unofficially set a new timeline for the new treaty;

Timetable

21–23 June 2007		European Council meeting in Brussels, mandate for IGC
23 July 2007		Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Lisbon, text of Reform Treaty
7–8 September 2007		Foreign Ministers’ meeting
18–19 October 2007		European Council in Lisbon, final agreement on Reform Treaty
13 December 2007		signing in Lisbon
by end of 2008		ratified by all Member States
1 January 2009		entry into force

June European Council

On 21 June 2007, the European Council met in Brussels to agree upon the foundation of a new treaty to replace the rejected Constitution. The meeting took place under the German Presidency of the EU Council, with Chancellor Angela Merkel leading the negotiations as President-in-Office of the European Council. After the Council quickly dealt with its other business, such as deciding on the accession of Cyprus and Malta to the Eurozone, negotiations on the Treaty took over and lasted until the morning of 23 June 2007. The hardest part of the negotiations was reported to be Poland's insistence on 'square root' voting in the EU Council.

File:Angela Merkel SJ8.jpg

Angela Merkel brokered a draft treaty agreement in June 2007

Agreement was reached on a 16-page mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference, that proposed removing much of the constitutional terminology and many of the symbols from the old European Constitution text. In addition it was agreed to recommend to the IGC that the provisions of the old European Constitution should be amended in certain key aspects (such as voting or foreign policy). Due to pressure from the United Kingdom and Poland, it was also decided to add a protocol to the Charter of fundamental human rights within the EU (clarifying that it did not extend the rights of the courts to overturn domestic law in Britain or Poland). Among the specific changes were greater ability to opt-out in certain areas of legislation and that the proposed new voting system that was part of the European Constitution would not be used before 2014 (see Provisions below).

In the June meeting, the name 'Reform Treaty' also emerged, finally clarifying that the Constitutional approach was abandoned. Technically it was agreed that the Reform Treaty would amend both the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) to include most provisions of the European Constitution, however not to combine them into one document. It was also agreed to rename the Treaty establishing the European Community, which is the main functional agreement including most of the substantive provisions of European primary law, to "Treaty on the Functioning of the Union". In addition it was agreed, that unlike the European Constitution where a Charter was part of the document, there would only be a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to make that text legally binding. Many of the amendments followed the procedures suggested by the Amato Group. After the council, Poland indicated they wished to re-open some areas. During June, Poland's Prime Minister had controversially stated that Poland would have a substantially larger population were it not for World War II. Another issue was that Dutch prime minister Jan-Peter Balkenende succeeded in a greater role for national parliaments in the EU decision making process, as he declared this to be non-negotiable for Dutch agreement.

Intergovernmental Conference

Portugal had pressed and supported Germany to reach an agreement on a mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) under their presidency. After the June negotiations and final settlement on a 16-page framework for the new Reform Treaty, the Intergovernmental conference on actually drafting the new treaty commenced on 23 July 2007. The IGC opened following a short ceremony. The Portuguese presidency presented a 145 page document (with an extra 132 pages of 12 protocols and 51 declarations) entitled the 'Draft Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community' and made it available on the Council of the European Union website as a starting point for the drafting process.

In addition to government representatives and legal scholars from each member state, the European Parliament sent three representatives. These were conservative Elmar Brok, social democratic Enrique Baron Crespo and liberal Andrew Duff.

Before the opening of the IGC, the Polish government expressed a desire to renegotiate the June agreement, notably over the voting system, but relented under political pressure by most other Member States, due to a desire not to be seen as the sole trouble maker over the negotiations.

October European Council

The October European Council, led by Portugal's Prime Minister José Sócrates (President-in-Office of the European Council at the time), consisted of legal experts from all Member States scrutinising the final drafts of the Treaty. During the council, it became clear that the Reform Treaty would be called Treaty of Lisbon because its signing would take place in Lisbon, Portugal, the holder of Council's presidency at the time. This naming practice is in line with most EU treaties in the past (the Maastricht Treaty was signed in Maastricht etc.).

At the European Council meeting on 18 October and 19 October 2007 in Lisbon, a few last-minute concessions were made to ensure the signing of the treaty. That included giving Poland a slightly stronger wording for the revived Ioannina Compromise, plus a nomination for an additional Advocate General at the European Court of Justice. The creation of the permanent "Polish" Advocate General is formally conditioned by an increase of the number of Advocates General from 8 to 11.

Signing

Signing ceremony inside the Jerónimos Monastery

The treaty was signed 13 December 2007 by heads of government for Member States in the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was criticised by sections of the media for not taking part in the main ceremony, instead signing the treaty separately a number of hours after the other delegates. A requirement to appear before a committee of British MPs was cited as the reason for his absence.

Ratification

National ratifications:

  Deposited: 11 countries

  Not yet deposited: 7 countries

  Pending: 8 countries

  Unauthorised: 1 country

In order to enter into legal force, the Treaty of Lisbon must be ratified in all Member States. If this does not happen as scheduled by the end of 2008, the Treaty will come into force on the first day of the month following the last ratification.

Most states have or will ratify in parliamentary processes. Due to a provision in its constitution, Ireland had to hold a referendum on the Treaty, which resulted in a rejection by 53.4% of those who voted, against 46.6% for. There were unsuccessful calls to governments to hold referendums in some other member states.

Hungary was the first to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon on 17 December 2007. Since that date, the number of Member States that have completed the ratification process has risen to eightteen of the total twenty-seven and the number of Member States that have deposited their ratification with the Government of Italy, which is the final step needed in order for the Treaty of Lisbon to enter into force, to eleven.

Ratification statuses at a glance

Parliamentary ratifications

Signatory	Vote date	Chamber			AB	Deposited	Ref.
Austria	9 April 2008	National Council	151	27	0	13 May 2008
	24 April 2008	Federal Council	58	4	0
	28 April 2008	Presidential Assent	Granted
Belgium	6 March 2008	Senate	48	8	1
	10 April 2008	Chamber of Representatives	116	18	7
	TBD	Royal Assent
	14 May 2008	Walloon Parliament (regional) (community matters)	56	2	4
	14 May 2008		53	3	2
	22 May 2008	Walloon Government (regional) (community matters)	Granted
	22 May 2008		Granted
	19 May 2008	German-speaking Community	22	2	1
	TBD	German-speaking Community Government
	20 May 2008	French Community	67	0	3
	TBD	French Community Government
	TBD	Brussels Regional Parliament
	TBD	Brussels Regional Government
	TBD	Brussels United Assembly
	TBD	Brussels United College
	11 July 2008	COCOF Assembly
	TBD	COCOF College
	TBD	Flemish Parliament
	TBD	Flemish Government
Bulgaria	21 March 2008	National Assembly	195	15	30	28 April 2008
Cyprus	3 July 2008	House of Representatives
Czech Republic	TBD	Chamber of Deputies
	TBD	Senate
Denmark	24 April 2008	Parliament	90	25	0	29 May 2008
Estonia	11 June 2008	Parliament	91	1	9
Finland incl. Åland Islands	11 June 2008	Parliament	151	27	21
	TBD	Åland Parliament
France	7 February 2008	National Assembly	336	52	22	14 February 2008
	7 February 2008	Senate	265	42	13
	13 February 2008	Presidential Assent	Granted
Germany	24 April 2008	Federal Diet	515	58	1
	23 May 2008	Federal Council	65	0	4
	TBD	Presidential Assent
Greece	11 June 2008	Parliament	250	42	8
Hungary	17 December 2007	National Assembly	325	5	14	6 February 2008
Italy	TBD	Senate of the Republic
	TBD	Chamber of Deputies
	TBD	Presidential Assent
Latvia	8 May 2008	Parliament	70	3	1	16 June 2008
	date unknown	Presidential Assent	Granted
Lithuania	8 May 2008	Parliament	83	5	23
Luxembourg	29 May 2008	Chamber of Deputies	47	1	3
Malta	29 January 2008	House of Representatives	65	0	0	6 February 2008
Netherlands	5 June 2008	Second Chamber	111	39	0
	8 July 2008	First Chamber
Poland	1 April 2008	House of Representatives	384	56	12
	2 April 2008	Senate	74	17	6
	9 April 2008	Presidential Assent	Granted
	summer 2008	Presidential Ratification Act	Denied
Portugal	23 April 2008	Assembly of the Republic	208	21	0	17 June 2008
Romania	4 February 2008	Parliament	387	1	1	11 March 2008
Slovakia	10 April 2008	National Council	103	5	1	24 June 2008
	12 May 2008	Presidential Assent	Granted
Slovenia	29 January 2008	National Assembly	74	6	0	24 April 2008
Spain	26 June 2008	Congress of Deputies	322	6	2
	TBD	Senate
Sweden	TBD	Parliament
United Kingdom incl.Gibraltar	11 March 2008	House of Commons	346	206	81
	18 June 2008	House of Lords	Content
	19 June 2008	Royal Assent	Granted
	TBD	Gibraltar Parliament
European Union	20 February 2008	European Parliament	525	115	29	N/A

Referendum ratifications

Signatory	Vote date	Stage			Spoilt	Turnout	Deposited	Ref.
Ireland	29 April 2008	Dáil Éireann	Passed				N/A
	9 May 2008	Seanad Éireann	Passed
	12 June 2008	Referendum	752,451	862,415	6,171	53.1%
	N/A	President	No Legal Authorisation To Consent

Specific national issues

Czech Republic

The Czech Senate decided to postpone the vote on the treaty and asked the Constitutional Court for its opinion on the treaty to see whether it is in line with Czech law.

Germany

In Germany, the President has not ratified the Treaty yet because he is waiting for opinion of the Constitutional Court.

Poland

In Poland, although the Act of Assent has been signed by the President, the ratification has not been done because, according to art. 90 and articles about the prerogatives of the President as stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the President's Ratification Act must be given. Lech Kaczyński has given his signature, although his paliamentary party does not completely approve of it. This situation is generally because of a dispute between two major political parties PO (the current government) and PiS (president's party). The PiS want the PO to enact a new law which will oblige the government to consider the opinion of the president and parliament before every summit of the European Council. The Polish president says that he will not ratify (even consider vetoing) the Treaty until the new law, which will be prepared by the Tusk cabinet and voted on by the Sejm and Senate, is passed.

Ireland

Further information: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill, 2008

Following a 1987 decision of the Irish Supreme Court, international treaties that might be in conflict with the Constitution of Ireland require the assent of the people to amend it so as to permit ratification. Any such amendment needs to be put to a public vote. Thus Ireland was the only Member State that held a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, in addition to a parliamentary vote.

All members from the three government parties in the Oireachtas supported the 'Yes' campaign. So did all opposition parties in the parliament, with the exception of Sinn Féin. The Green Party, whilst being a party in the government, did not officially take a line, having failed to reach a two-thirds majority either way at a party congress in January 2008, leaving members free to decide. Most Irish trade unions and business organisations supported the 'yes'-campaign also. Those campaigning for the 'No' vote included political party Sinn Féin and lobby group Libertas. The United Kingdom Independence Party also encouraged its members to go to Ireland to campaign for a No vote.

The result of the referendum on 12 June 2008 was in opposition to the treaty, with 53.4% against the Treaty and 46.6% in favour, in a 53.1% turnout. A week later, this Flash Eurobarometer conducted hours after the vote, was released, suggesting why the electorate voted as they did.

Function

EU's legally
binding basis

Treaty
establishing
the European
Community

Treaty on
European
Union

Charter of
Fundamental
Rights

Treaty
of Lisbon

EU's legally
binding basis

Treaty on the
Functioning of
the European
Union

Treaty on
European
Union

Charter of
Fundamental
Rights

In line with the nature of most amending treaties, the Treaty of Lisbon is not intended to be read as an autonomous text. It consists of a number of amendments to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, the latter being renamed 'Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union' in the process. The Treaty on European Union would after being amended by the Treaty of Lisbon provide a reference to the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, making that document legally binding. The Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental rights would have equal legal value and combined constitute the European Union's legal basis.

A typical amendment in Treaty of Lisbon text is:

Article 7 shall be amended as follows: (a) throughout the Article, the word "assent" shall be replaced by "consent", the reference to breach "of principles mentioned in Article 6(1)" shall be replaced by a reference to breach "of the values referred to in Article 2" and the words "of this Treaty" shall be replaced by "of the Treaties";

Fundamental Rights Charter

Main article: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

The Fundamental Rights Charter would enter into force. Among other provisions, it bans capital punishment for current and future Member States.

The fifty-five articles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights list political, social and economic rights for EU citizens. It is intended to make sure that European Union regulations and directives do not contradict the European Convention on Human Rights which is ratified by all EU Member States (and to which the EU as a whole would accede under the Treaty of Lisbon). In the rejected EU Constitution it was integrated into the text of the treaty and was legally binding. The UK, as one of the two countries with a common law legal system in the EU and a largely uncodified Constitution, was against making it legally binding over domestic law. The suggestion by the German presidency that a single reference to it with a single article in the amended treaties, maintaining that it should be legally binding, was implemented. Nevertheless, in an attached protocol, Poland and the United Kindom have opt-outs from these provisions of the treaty. Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union elevates the Charter to the same legal value as the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Amendments

Bullet point summary

A European Council President with a 2½ year term de facto replacing the rotating presidency. A single foreign affairs post created by merging the External Relations Commissioner with the CFSP High Representative. Charter of Fundamental Rights from 2000 made legally binding. Pillars merged to 1 legal person increasing the EU's competence to sign treaties. European Council separated officially from the EU Council. Legislative meetings of the EU Council to be held in public. Commission reduced to less than one commissioner per country. Nationalities would rotate regardless of country size. More powerful Parliament by extending codecision with the Councils to more areas of policy. Further enlargement enabled by removing the Nice Treaty limitation to 27 Member States.

More double majority voting to new areas of policy in the European Council and the EU Council, from 2014 on. Common defence foreseen in that the ESDP leads to one when the European Council unanimously decides to. National parliaments engaged by expanding scrutiny-time of legislation and enabling them to jointly compel the Commission to review or withdraw legislation. Mutual solidarity obliged if a member state is object of a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster. Citizens' petitions to be considered by the Commission if signed by 1 mill. citizens. Combating climate change explicitly stated as an objective. An EU Public Prosecutor An External Action Service Membership withdrawal clause

Central Bank

Further information: European Central Bank

The European Central Bank would become an official institution. The Treaty of Lisbon would declare the euro to be the official currency of the Union, although in practice not affecting the current Eurozone enlargement process or national opt-outs of the monetary union.

Court of Justice

Further information: European Court of Justice

The Treaty of Lisbon renames the Court of Justice of the European Communities the 'Court of Justice of the European Union'.

A new 'emergency' procedure will be introduced into the preliminary reference system, which will allow the Court of Justice to act "with the minimum of delay" when a case involves an individual in custody.

The ECJ's jurisdiction will continue to be excluded from matters of foreign policy, though it will have new jurisdiction to review foreign policy sanction measures. It will also have jurisdiction over certain 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice' (AFSJ) matters not concerning policing and criminal cooperation.

Court of First Instance

Further information: Court of First Instance

The Court of First Instance would be renamed the 'General Court'.

Council

Further information: Council of the European Union

The remaining part of the Council of the European Union will still be an organised platform of meetings between national ministers of specific departments (e.g. finance- or foreign ministers). Legislative procedural meetings that include debate and voting will be held in public (televised).

Presidency of the Council

Further information: Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The Council would have an 18-month rotating Presidency shared by a trio of Member States, with the purpose of providing more continuity. The exception would be the Council's Foreign Affairs configuration, which would be chaired by the newly-created post of Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

European Council

Further information: European Council

The European Council of national heads of government or heads of state (either the prime minister or the president), will officially be separated from the Council of the European Union (national ministers for specific areas of policy).

The Treaty of Lisbon would expand the use of qualified majority voting (QMV), by making it the standard voting procedure. Though some areas of policy still require unanimous decisions (notably in foreign policy, defence and taxation). QMV is reached when a majority of all member countries (55%) who represent a majority of all citizens (65%) vote in favour of a proposal. When the European Council is not acting on a proposal of the Commission, the necessary majority of all member countries is increased to 72% while the population requirement stays the same. To block legislation at least 4 countries have to be against the proposal.

The current Nice treaty voting rules that include a majority of countries (50% / 67%), voting weights (74%) and population (62%) would remain in place until 2014. Between 2014 and 2017 a transitional phase would take place where the new qualified majority voting rules apply, but where the old Nice treaty voting weights can be applied when a member state wishes so. Also from 2014 a new version of the 1994 "Ioannina Compromise" would take effect, which allows small minorities of EU states to call for re-examination of EU decisions they do not like.

President of the European Council

Further information: President of the European Council

File:Angela Merkel SJ1.jpg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Luxembourgian Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker have been among others suggested as possible candidate forerunners.

The current post of President-in-Office of the European Council is loosely defined, with the Union's treaties stating only that the European Council shall be chaired by the head of government (or state) of the country holding the presidency of the European Union which rotates every six months. If ratified the new President of the European Council would be elected for a two and a half year term. The election would take place by a qualified majority among the members of the body, and the President can be removed by the same procedure. Unlike the President of the European Commission, there is no approval from the European Parliament.

The President's work would be largely administrative in coordinating the work of the Council and organising the meeting. It does however offer external representation of the council and the Union and reports to the European Parliament after Council meetings and at the beginning and end of his or her term.

In many newspapers this new post is inaccurately being called "President of Europe".

Parliament

Further information: European Parliament

Codecision would be used in new policy areas, increasing the directly elected Parliament's power and relevance.

The legislative power and relevance of the directly elected European Parliament would under the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, be increased by extending co-decision procedure with the Council to new areas of policy. This procedure would become the ordinary legislative procedure in the work of the Council and the Parliament.

In the few remaining areas (currently called "special legislative procedures"), Parliament either has the right of consent to a Council measure, or vice-versa, except where the few cases where the old Consultation procedure applies (where the Council must consult the European Parliament before voting on the Commission proposal and take its views into account. It is not bound by the Parliament's position but only by the obligation to consult it. Parliament must be consulted again if the Council deviates too far from the initial proposal).

The number of MEPs would be permanently reduced to 750, in addition to the President of the Parliament. If the treaty does not come into effect before 2009, the number of MEPs will be permanently reduced to 732 according to the Treaty of Nice. The Lisbon treaty also reduces the maximum number of MEPs from each member state from 99 to 96 (applies to Germany) and increases the minimal number from 5 to 6 (applies to Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta).

The Parliament also gains greater powers over the entirety of the EU budget, and its competence is extended from 'obligatory' expenditure to include the budget in its entirety. On the other hand, the Commission would not longer be obliged to submit a preliminary draft budget to the Council, but to submit the budget proposal directly.

National parliaments

Main article: National parliaments of the European Union

The Treaty of Lisbon expands the role of Member States' parliaments in the work and legislative processes of the EU institutions and bodies.

Greater role in responding to new applications for membership (new Article 34 replacing Article 49). National parliaments would be able to veto measures furthering judicial cooperation in civil matters (new Article 69d).

Article 8c says among other things that national parliaments are to contribute to the good functioning of the Union:

• through being informed by, and receive draft legislation from Union institutions.
• by seeing to it that the principle of subsidiarity is respected.
• by taking part in the evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of the Union policies in the area of freedom, security and justice.
• through being involved in the political monitoring of Europol and the evaluation of Eurojust's activities.
• by being notified of applications for EU accession.
• by taking part in the inter-parliamentary cooperation between national parliaments and with the European Parliament.

Protocol 2 provides for a greater role of national parliaments in ensuring that EU measures comply with the principle of subsidiarity. In comparison with the proposed Constitution, the Reform Treaty allows national parliaments eight rather than six weeks to study European Commission legislative proposals and decide whether to send a reasoned opinion stating why the national parliament considers it to be incompatible with subsidiarity. National parliaments may vote to have the measure reviewed. If one third (or one quarter, where the proposed EU measure concerns freedom, justice and security) of votes are in favour of a review, the Commission would have to review the measure and if it decides to maintain it, must give a reasoned opinion to the Union legislator as to why it considers the measure to be compatible with subsidiarity.

Commission

The Commission of the European Communities would officially be renamed 'European Commission'.

The Treaty of Lisbon would reduce the size of the Commission from the present 27 Commissioners to 18. That would end the arrangement of having at least one for each Member State at all times, which has existed since 1957. Commissioners are appointed for five year terms. The new system would mean that for five years in any fifteen year cycle, each country (regardless of size) would be without a commissioner. The reason for lowering the number of commissioners is that there are not enough tasks for 27, and increased effectiveness.

The person holding the new post of 'High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy' would automatically also be a Vice-President of the Commission.

Foreign relations

Main article: High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

The changes in foreign relations have been seen by some as the core changes in the treaty, in the same way as the Single European Act created a single market, the Maastricht Treaty created the euro, or the Treaty of Amsterdam created greater cooperation in justice and home affairs. Foreign Relations is a policy area which under the Treaty of Lisbon still would require unanimity in the European Council.

Foreign High Representative

The Treaty of Lisbon would create a 'High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy' from two existing posts currently held by Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

The Treaty would merge the post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (currently held by Javier Solana) with the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy (currently held by Benita Ferrero-Waldner), creating a 'High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy' in an effort to reduce the number of Commissioners, and coordinate the Union's foreign policy with greater consistency. The new High Representative would also become a Vice-President of the Commission, the administrator of the European Defence Agency and the Secretary-General of the Council. He or she would also get an External Action Service and a right to propose defence or security missions. The Constitution called this post the 'Union Foreign Minister'.

Several Member States feared that this post would undermine their national foreign policy, so the EU summit mandated that the IGC would agree to the following Declaration:

[...]the provisions covering Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) including in relation to the (new) High Representative would not affect the existing legal basis, responsibilities, and powers of each Member State in relation to the formulation and conduct of its foreign policy, its national diplomatic service, relations with third countries and participation in international organisations, including a Member State's membership of the UN Security Council. The Conference also notes that the provisions covering CFSP do not give new powers to the Commission to initiate decisions or increase the role of the European Parliament. The Conference also recalls that the provisions governing the CFSP do not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of the Member States.

— Presidency conclusions

Legal personality and pillar collapse

See also: Legal person and Three pillars of the European Union

Under the existing treaties, only the European Communities pillar has its own legal personality. Under the new provisions, the three pillars would be merged into one legal personality called the European Union. The Treaty on European Union would after the Treaty of Lisbon state that "The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community." Hence, the existing names of EU institutions would have the word 'Community' removed (e.g. the de facto title 'European Commission' would become official, replacing its treaty name of 'Commission of the European Communities'.)

This merger of the pillars, including the European Community, would partly finalise the progress of establishing various communities and treaty-bodies, that has been going on since around the 1950s. The defence body of Western European Union (WEU) would effectively also be absorbed by the EU, through the European Defence Agency, which would gain a legal role under the Lisbon Treaty. The exception is the EURATOM, which due to fears of sparking unnecessary opposition by people against nuclear power, was left out when the Constitution was drafted.

Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.

Legend:   S: signing   F: entry into force   T: termination   E: expiry     de facto supersession   Rel. w/ EC/EU framework:    de facto inside    outside

European Union (EU)

[Cont.]

European Communities (EC)

(Pillar I)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)

[Cont.]

/ / / European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

(Distr. of competences)

European Economic Community (EEC)

Schengen Rules

European Community (EC)

TREVI

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA, pillar II)

/ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

[Cont.]

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC, pillar II)

Anglo-French alliance

[Defence arm handed to NATO]

European Political Co-operation (EPC)

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP, pillar III)

Western Union (WU)

/ Western European Union (WEU)

[Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984 reactivation handed to the EU]

[Social, cultural tasks handed to CoE]

[Cont.]

Council of Europe (CoE)

Entente Cordiale S: 8 April 1904

Dunkirk Treaty S: 4 March 1947 F: 8 September 1947 E: 8 September 1997

Brussels Treaty S: 17 March 1948 F: 25 August 1948 T: 30 June 2011

London and Washington treaties S: 5 May/4 April 1949 F: 3 August/24 August 1949

Paris treaties: ECSC and EDC S: 18 April 1951/27 May 1952 F: 23 July 1952/— E: 23 July 2002/—

Protocol Modifying and Completing the Brussels Treaty S: 23 October 1954 F: 6 May 1955

Rome treaties: EEC and EAEC S: 25 March 1957 F: 1 January 1958

WEU-CoE agreement S: 21 October 1959 F: 1 January 1960

Brussels (Merger) Treaty S: 8 April 1965 F: 1 July 1967

Davignon report S: 27 October 1970

European Council conclusions S: 2 December 1975

Single European Act (SEA) S: 17/28 February 1986 F: 1 July 1987

Schengen Treaty and Convention S: 14 June 1985/19 June 1990 F: 26 March 1995

Maastricht Treaty S: 7 February 1992 F: 1 November 1993

Amsterdam Treaty S: 2 October 1997 F: 1 May 1999

Nice Treaty S: 26 February 2001 F: 1 February 2003

Lisbon Treaty S: 13 December 2007 F: 1 December 2009

Defined policy areas

In the Lisbon Treaty the distribution of competences in various policy areas between Member States and the Union is explicitly stated in the following three categories:

Exclusive competence The Union has exclusive competence to make directives and conclude international agreements when provided for in a Union legislative act. the customs union the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy common commercial (trade) policy

Shared competence Member States cannot exercise competence in areas where the Union has done so. the internal market social policy, for the aspects defined in this Treaty economic, social and territorial cohesion agriculture and fisheries, excluding the conservation of marine biological resources environment consumer protection transport trans-European networks energy the area of freedom, security and justice common safety concerns in public health matters, for the aspects defined in this Treaty

Supporting competence The Union can carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement Member States' actions. the protection and improvement of human health industry culture tourism education, youth, sport and vocational training civil protection (disaster prevention) administrative cooperation

Enlargement and secession

Further information: [[:Enlargement of the European Union]]

  The European Union

  Candidate

  Expressed interest in membership

  Membership debate

The Treaty of Lisbon would introduce language on potential Member States having to adhere to the bloc's values if they want Union membership. A Dutch suggestion to enshrine the Copenhagen Criteria for further enlargement in the treaty has not been fully taken on board as there are fears it would lead to Court of Justice judges having the last word on who could join the EU, rather than political leaders. During the June 2007 summit Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende secured stronger enlargement criteria in the treaty..

The treaty introduces an exit clause for members wanting to withdraw from the Union. This formalises the procedure by stating that a member state must inform the European Council before it can terminate its membership. While there has been one instance where a territory has ceased to be part of the Community (Greenland in 1985), there is currently no regulated opportunity to exit the European Union.

A new provision in the Treaty of Lisbon is that the status of French, Dutch and Danish overseas territories can be changed more easily, by no longer requiring a full treaty revision. Instead, the European Council may, on the initiative of the member state concerned, change the status of an overseas country or territory (OCT) to an outermost region (OMR) or vice versa. This provision was included on a proposal by the Netherlands, which is investigating the future of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the European Union as part of an institutional reform process that is currently taking place in the Netherlands Antilles.

Climate change

The Treaty of Lisbon adds explicit sentences stating that combating climate change and global warming are targets of the Union.

Mutual solidarity

Under the Treaty of Lisbon, Member States should assist if a member state is subject to a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster (but any joint military action is subject to the provisions of Article 31 of the consolidated Treaty of European Union, which recognises various national concerns). In addition, several provisions of the treaties have been amended to include solidarity in matters of energy supply and changes to the energy policy within the EU.

Defence

The treaty foresees that the European Security and Defence Policy will lead to a common defence agreement for the EU if and when the European Council (national leaders) resolves unanimously to do so and provided that all member states give their approval through their usual constitutional procedures.

Opt-outs

Further information: [[:Opt-outs in the European Union]]

United Kingdom and Poland

The "Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union" by the European Court of Justice is not to apply fully to the United Kingdom and Poland, although it would still bind the EU institutions and apply to the field of EU law:

Article 1

1. The Charter does not extend the ability of the Court of Justice of the European Union, or any court or tribunal of Poland or of the United Kingdom, to find that the laws, regulations or administrative provisions, practices or action of Poland or of the United Kingdom are inconsistent with the fundamental rights, freedoms and principles that it reaffirms.
2. In particular, and for the avoidance of doubt, nothing in Title IV of the Charter creates justiciable rights applicable to Poland or the United Kingdom except in so far as Poland or the United Kingdom has provided for such rights in its national law.
Article 2

To the extent that a provision of the Charter refers to national laws and practices, it shall only apply to Poland or the United Kingdom to the extent that the rights or principles that it contains are recognised in the law or practices of Poland or of the United Kingdom.

— Reform Treaty - Protocol (No 7)

Though the Civic Platform party in Poland had signalled during the 2007 parliamentary elections that it would not seek to opt-out from the Charter, Prime Minister Tusk has since stated that Poland will not sign up to the Charter. Tusk declared that the deals negotiated by the previous Polish government will be honoured, though suggested that Poland may eventually sign up to the Charter at a later date.

Ireland and United Kingdom

Ireland and the United Kingdom have opted out from the change from unanimous decisions to qualified majority voting in the sector of police and judicial affairs; this decision will be reviewed in Ireland three years after the treaty enters into force (if referendum approves). Both states will be able to opt in to these voting issues on a case-by-case basis.

Member States can have opt-outs from some of these policy areas (e.g. UK opt-out from some legislation in the area of freedom, security and justice).

The Treaty will provide countries with the option to opt out of certain EU policies in the area of police and criminal law. Provisions in the Treaty framework draft from the June 2007 summit stated that the division of power between Member States and the Union is a two-way process, implying that powers can be taken back from the union.

Compared to the Constitutional Treaty

Most of the institutional innovations that were agreed upon in the European Constitution, are kept in the Treaty of Lisbon. The most prominent difference is arguably that the Treaty of Lisbon amends existing EU treaties, rather than re-founding the EU by replacing old texts with a single document with the status of a constitution. Other differences include:

• The planned 'Union Minister for Foreign Affairs' has been renamed 'High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy'.
• EU symbols like the flag, the motto and the anthem, are not made legally binding in the Treaty of Lisbon. All of them are however already in use; e.g. the flag was adopted in the 1980s. Sixteen EU-countries have declared their allegiance to these symbols in the new treaty, although the annexed declaration is not legally binding.
• In line with eliminating all 'state-like' terminology and symbols, new names for various types of EU legislation have been dropped, in particular the proposal to rename EU regulations and EU directives as EU 'laws'.
• Three EU Member States have negotiated additional opt-outs from certain areas of policy, particularly the UK (see above).
• Due to Poland's pressure during the June Council in 2007, the new voting system will not enter into force before 2014.
• Combating climate-change is explicitly stated as an objective of EU institutions in the Treaty of Lisbon.
• The EU Constitution would have included the phrase "free and undistorted competition" which has not been in this form in the existing EC Treaty. Due to pressure of France, this phrase was not included in the Lisbon Treaty, rather the text relating to free and undistorted competition in Article 3 of the EC Treaty is kept and moved to Protocol 6 ("On the Internal Market and Competition"). There has been some debate over whether this will have an impact on EU Competition policy in future. Whilst French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared "We have obtained a major reorientation of the union's objectives", EU commissioner Neelie Kroes has refuted such claims, stating "putting it in a Protocol on the internal market clarifies that one cannot exist without the other. They have moved the furniture round, but the house is still there. The Protocol is of equivalent status to the Treaty."

External links

Official websites

• Official website – Europa
  • Treaty of Lisbon (the amendments)
  • Consolidated treaties (the result of the amendments)
• Treaty of Lisbon – European Commission Representation to Ireland
• Irish Government information site for the Reform Treaty – Irish Department of Foreign Affairs
• 10 Myths about the Reform Treaty – British Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Media overviews

• Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty – BBC News
• The 'Treaty of Lisbon' – EurActiv
• The EU following the Lisbon Treaty – Eur-charts visualization
• The new EU reform treaty – Federal Union
• Q&A: the EU reform treaty – The Times
• Ratification Monitor – Bertelsmann Foundation