The Lisbon Treaty Taking Europe to 21 st Century Saragadam R V Vishwanath Aditya Bharadwaj

Constitution What is a constitution? Why was there a need for a constitution? Why was the constitution dropped?  Fear of supranational power?

The Lisbon Treaty What is the Lisbon Treaty? Why is it important? In what way is it different from a constitution?  The Lisbon Treaty is no longer the “European Constitution”

Challenges to ratification Irish referendum  Why only Ireland? Czechoslovakian Eurosceptism

Changes Introduced The commission: One commissioner per member state A stabilized European Council  President of European Council  Voice and face to EU  Representative of EU in the international arena  Chair and coordination of European Council’s work A high representative of the Union for Foreign affairs and Security policy  Vice President of the European Commission

Changes Introduced A new decision making process in the council of ministers  The concept of double majority  Approval from 55% of the member states which have more that 65% of the population  A blocking majority has to include at least 4 member states Council of ministers will meet in public when a law is debated  A move towards democratization of EU  Main role is to approve European laws

Changes Introduced The European Parliament: A more influential institution Democratization of EU:  The Court of Justice  The “Ioannina Compromise”  Buys some time to oppose Extension of the qualified majority vote to new areas Greater say of national parliament

Citizen’s power in European Union The strengthening of the role played by the European Parliament  Legislative domain  Extension of legislative codecision procedure to new areas  Budgetary area  Equal right to decision as the Council of Ministers  Political control Participative Democracy  A million signs  Dialog between citizens, civil society and Union institutions.  Council of ministers sit in public

Abolition of the Pillar system Previous structure:  First pillar: The single market ( Supranational)  Second pillar: Common foreign policy(Inter-governmental)  Third pillar: Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters Inter-governmental structure abolished Special voting procedure for common foreign and security policy retained  Replaces the second pillar Gives EU single legal personality

Competence sharing Who is responsible for what? Sharing of competence between the European Union and the Member States  Principle of conferred powers Types of competence  Exclusive to Union  Shared  Exclusive to member states No new exclusive competences to Union

Charter of fundamental rights Range of civil, political and social rights enjoyed by European Union’s citizens Not legally binding due to too much opposition. A political declaration instead. UK the major opposing force.

Economic Issues The recognition of the Eurogroup The stability and growth pact  Public deficit must be below 3%  Public debt must be below 60% of GDP  A very tight requirement? The European budget  Obligatory and Non-obligatory expenses  Unanimity needed in the financial framework  Bridging clause can transfer this to majority rule.

Enlargement policy Accession to EU (Copenhagen criteria)  Political criteria  Economic criteria  Community Acquis Withdrawal from European Union  Introduced for the first time  UK might use it

European Union’s external action Increase in EU’s international influence  Legal status European defense policy  Solidarity clause  European Defense Agency  No European Army

References 1. The European Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty european-union-constitution-and-the-lisbon-treaty/ european-union-constitution-and-the-lisbon-treaty/ 2. Europa – Treat of Lisbon 3. Wikipedia – Treaty of Lisbon 4. BBC News – Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty BBC News – Q&A: Charter of fundamental rights Foundation Robert Schuman: Understanding the Lisbon Treaty