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The Treaty of Lisbon – A Historic Step Forward for Europe

Lisbon: Merkel signing the Treaty. Photo: REGIERUNGonline
/Kugler

On 13 December 2007, the European Heads of State and Government signed the Treaty of Lisbon – a Reform Treaty putting the European Union on a new footing. The stage was set for this move under Germany’s EU Presidency, and the Federal Government has now achieved its goal of retaining the essential elements of progress set out in the EU’s Constitutional Treaty.

Improving the EU’s Capacity for Action

A European Union with 27 member states must also be able to successfully master the challenges posed by a dynamically evolving globalized world. The Treaty of Lisbon will strengthen its ability to act:

In future, the European Council will be chaired by a full-time President, elected for a term of two and a half years.
The Union will acquire an external “face”: the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will head the Council of Foreign Ministers and become Vice-President of the Commission.
The introduction of the double majority and the further reduction of areas in which decisions must be reached unanimously will noticeably facilitate the decision-making process.
Climate protection and energy security will be the key cornerstones of European policy.
Transnational cooperation will be stepped up in the police and judicial sectors.
The EU will become more transparent and more efficient. The Union’s and the member states’ respective remits and responsibilities will be more clearly demarcated.

Strengthening Democracy and the Protection of Basic Rights in the EU

At the same time, the Treaty of Lisbon will also help to considerably improve the European Union’s democratic legitimacy and the protection of its citizens’ basic rights:

The competences of the European Parliament will be extended. The EP will become an equal co-legislator alongside the Council and will in future elect the President of the European Commission.
The participation and control rights of the national parliaments will be strengthened.
European Citizens’ Initatives will become possible. By collecting at least a million signatures, citizens from different EU member states will be able to petition the EU Commission to draft a new bill.
The Treaty of Lisbon will make the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding.

Our Goal: The Treaty’s Entry into Force on 1 January 2009

Under Germany’s EU Presidency, the Heads of State and Government signed the Berlin Declaration on 25 March 2007, undertaking to place the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009. After being signed on 13 December 2007, the Treaty must now be ratified by all the member states if it is to enter into force as planned on 1 January 2009.

In nearly all EU countries, the Reform Treaty will be ratified by the national parliaments. Only Ireland is committed to holding a referendum. In Germany, it is hoped that the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (the German Parliament’s lower and upper houses) will approve the Treaty by 23 May 2008.

April 2, 2008

Links

Further information is available at:
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de
http://www.deutschland-in-europa.de
http://www.europa.eu
http://www.eu-kommission.de
http://www.eurparl.de

The Magazine on European Policy provides information on the European Union and the Federal Government’s European policy. To subscribe free of charge, visit
http://www.BPA-Magazine.de

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