The Lisbon Treaty – The Institutional Reform of the European Union

Abstract

The paper deals with the Treaty signed at the European Council conference in Lisbon on 13th of December 2007. This reform Treaty, representing the consensus of twenty seven member states, introduces modifcations both to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. The solutions proposed by the Lisbon Treaty are mostly taken from the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

After introductory notes with regard to the ratifcation procedures adopted by each member state, the author analyses the reasons for the EU reform. During the last decade, the European Union is facing challenges such as: enlargement of the European Union, democratisation of the functioning of EU institutions and strengtening of the EU external position. In the frst part of the paper, the author analyses the articles of the Lisbon Treaty devoted to the adjustment of the institutional functioning to the EU enlargement such as: distribution of electoral mandates in EU Parliament, composition of EU Commission and new voting rule at the Council of Ministers to facilitate the decision making. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the democratization of European Union which should be reached by strenghtening of the role played by the Europen Parliament, raising the transparence of the functioning of the institutions, increasing the role of the national parliaments and creating the right of citizens’ initiative. In the third part the author analyses the clauses of the Lisbon Treaty related to the the strenghtening of EU external position which would be achieved by creating the post of High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy who becomes also the Commission’s Vice-President, providing EU with a legal status and progressing towards a European Defence Policy.

Within the concluding observations, the author sums up presented observations and especially emphasizes the importance of the EU reform in order to adapt the EU functioning to the modifed circumstances on the internal and international level as well.