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The Treaty of Lisbon (also known as the Reform Treaty) is a treaty designed to streamline how the European Union (EU) works by amending the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC or Treaty of Rome), the latter being renamed Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in the process.
The Treaty signed by the Heads of State or Government of the 27 Member States in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 will provide the EU with modern institutions and optimised working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today's challenges in today's world. In a rapidly changing world, Europeans look to the EU to address issues such as globalisation, climatic and demographic changes, security and energy. The Treaty of Lisbon will reinforce democracy in the EU and its capacity to promote the interests of its citizens on a day-to-day basis.
However, Irish voters rejected by a margin of 53.4% to 46.6% the Treaty on Friday the 13th of June, putting the entire bloc's reform plan in peril and humiliating Ireland's political leaders (government and opposition) who were all in favor of approval. Ireland is the only EU country to put it to a popular vote. Prime Minister Brian Cowen called the vote "a source of disappointment to my colleagues in government and to me. In a democracy, the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box is sovereign. The government accepts and respects the verdict of the Irish people."
The Treaty was an effort to resurrect EU reforms that were torpedoed by French and Dutch voters in 2005 (See "The European Constitution").
This time all countries but Ireland avoided a referendum. The "No" vote means a country with fewer than 1 percent of the EU's 490 million population could doom a treaty painstakingly negotiated by all 27 member states.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged the other 26 members to press on and ratify the treaty. Fourteen have already done so and another four are close.
The main reasons for promoting this Treaty, as the EU website explains is that "Europe is grappling with new issues: globalisation, demographic shifts, climate change, the need for sustainable energy sources and new security threats. These are the challenges facing Europe in the 21st century.
Borders count for very little in the light of these challenges. The EU countries cannot meet them alone. But acting as one, Europe can deliver results and respond to the concerns of the public. For this, Europe needs to modernise. The EU has recently expanded from 15 to 27 members; it needs effective, coherent tools so it can function properly and respond to the rapid changes in the world. That means rethinking some of the ground rules for working together.
The treaty signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 sets out to do just that. When European leaders reached agreement on the new rules, they were thinking of the political, economic and social changes going on, and the need to live up to the hopes and expectations of the European public. The Treaty of Lisbon will define what the EU can and cannot do, and what means it can use. It will alter the structure of the EU’s institutions and how they work. As a result, the EU will be more democratic and its core values will be better served."
This Treaty was the result of lengthy and complicated negotiations among EU members and culminated in an intergovernmental conference involving the European Commission and the European Parliament. The main obstacles for approval are that it must be ratified by all 27 members and that each country may choose the procedure for ratification. The target date for ratification was to be on 1 January 2009.
The Irish rejection on Friday the 13th referendum is a resounding setback. Further down the road, the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced on 21 June 2008 that the Czech Republic may not ratify it either. "The Czech Republic cannot complete their ratification process until the constitutional court delivers its positive opinion on the accordance of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech constitutional order". The Czech parliament's ratification was suspended after the Senate demanded that the court rule on its constitutionality. The following chart shows the stage of ratification as of 15 July 2008: |
