The Significance of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty for the Working of the European Union - Case Study Example

Critically evaluate the significance of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty for the working of the European Union (EU) Introduction “This is the European way of doing things: a comprehensive approach to crisis prevention and crisis management; a large and diversified to crisis prevention and crisis management; a large and diversified tool box; a rapid response capability; playing our role as a global actor. Obviously, if the Lisbon Treaty were to be ratified, and I hope it will be, we would be even more effective” ~Javier Solana, 18 February 2009. In the past five decades, European Union (EU) has grown rapidly from its initial six member states, to the present number of 27 member states. This growth in the number of members is primarily attributed to reasons that vary from being conducive in nature, to security issues, while some scholars have even suggested standardised or digressive reasons for the rise in the number of member states of EU (McAllister, 2010). To enhance understanding, trust, and collaboration amongst the members, various treaties have been devised from time to time related to regional policies on economy and trade, immigration policies, social policies, defence polices, and home and justice affairs. Some such treaties were Treaty of Rome (1957), Treaty of Maastricht (1992), Treaties of Nice (2001), the treaty that tried establishing a European Constitution and failed in 2004, and lastly the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 (made effective in 2009). The 2004 and 2007 treaties created a great deal of controversies, and many experts claimed that the last two treaties were aimed primarily at creating a collaborative European superpower. However, the supporters for these treaties contended that these were aiming at making way for a larger EU in the 21st century (Church and Phinnemore, 2010). Keeping the contrasting viewpoints in mind the essay will critically evaluate the significance of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty for the working of the European Union (EU), and will examine whether the treaty symbolises another step towards forming a union with closer ties between its members. Discussion The Lisbon treaty: The history of European Union is fraught with an intermittent feeling of division, regular contentions of a diplomatic nature, and a perpetual missing of fixed deadlines and set targets (Blockmans and Wessel, 2011, 73-103). The critics point out the body’s lack of power within the arena of global or regional politics, and for this reason the body has been often labelled as ‘soft power’ (Fioramonti, and Lucarelli, 2008, 193-210). In the context of security issues, EU as a body is often perceived as being irresolute, ineffective, and inconsistent (ibid). Even though there is no doubt that a war between the any of the members of EU is unthinkable, the body’s response during an on-going war in the neighbourhood, in terms of ‘crisis management,’ has not been very effective, and the Union is still perceived as weak, in terms ‘unity’ amongst its members (Gilbert 2008, 641-658). In this context, to understand whether the Lisbon Treaty (LT) would really work towards creating a stronger union amongst the member states, it is necessary to examine the treaty from close quarters. The representatives from the 27 EU member states signed the Treaty of Lisbon on 18th December 2007, which modified the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and the Treaty on European Union (TEU). There are seven Articles under the Treaty of Lisbon, where the modifications to TEC and TEU are listed under Articles 1 and 2 (Amendments to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty Establishing the European Community, 2007). Under Articles 3-7, we find that there are provisions for treaty duration, the process of ratification, and article renumbering (ibid). This is unlike the 2004 Treaty, which attempted to establish a European Constitution, and remained ineffective owing to negative referendum votes cast by Netherlands and France. The Lisbon Treaty however retrains itself from trying to replace any of the treaties (TEC and TEU) and simply aims to modify them (Reh, 2009). After the treaty became effective on 1st December 2009, the compounded versions of TEC and TEU are now known as the Treaty on the Function of the European Union or TFEU. The chief objective of the Lisbon Treaty is clearly stated in its preamble: “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.” (Treaty of Lisbon, Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community, 2007) The preamble to LT makes it clear that it primary aim is strengthen unity amidst the Union members, and to make into a powerful body within the realms of global power politics. In the LT, under institutional clauses, ("Constitution"- part 1), there are some specific clauses. The more significant ones amongst them are: EU is given the status of a legal entity; the three pillars (the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Communities, and the Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters) of the EU are converged; implementation of the rule of co-decision between Council of Ministers and European Parliament as procedures for ordinary legislations; double majority rule is made effective, as regards decision taking amongst the 27 Union members; establishment of a single position, "High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy"; two and a half years of stable Presidency of European Council which may be renewed once; promotion for the increase in democratic participation of citizens; mutual defence clause, where if one EU member is attacked others must provide help; solidarity clause where if one member faces natural or man-made disasters, the other members are bound to help; protection of the right of initiatives taken up by the citizens (Fondation Robert Schuman, The Lisbon Treaty, 2009) The present institutional structure of EU with its three pillars (the European Communities, the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters) that are kept artificially separate tends to create problems in the external functioning of the EU. Thus, we find that in this respect the merging of the three pillars and the amalgamation of European Community and European Union within the LT has the potential to increase the unity amidst the external activities of the Union. The Lisbon Treaty also provides a legal entity to the Union where it states, “The Union shall have legal personality” (Art. 7), thus removing any doubts on the legal nature of the body. Effects of LT on EU: How the LT may potentially affect European Union: 1. The European Council body, which is comprised of the leaders of the Member States, is given the official status of an EU institution, with an independent and elected President. Its chief function would be to provide EU with a political force and chalking its political objectives. 2. The Council of Ministers and The European Parliament become co-legislators in the most of the cases, especially while referring to EU laws in the context of law enforcement and judiciary alliance and acceptance of the EU budget. 3.  EU competences (national powers allocated to various EU institutions adopted by European Parliament and national level governments) will be increased, so that the body can now function on a wider scope and diverse issues, related to global trade, policies associated with tourism and energy, and police and judiciary cooperation. 4. A High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be present to oversee the European Parliament EU’s foreign policies in order to make it more coherent and logical in the global arena. For supporting the High Representative, a web of embassies under the EU would be established worldwide, known as the European External Action Service or EEAS. 5. Different national level parliaments would have more power and say within affairs of the EU, where they can compete to draft the EU laws deemed unnecessary and have the power to remove modifications through majority to unanimous decision-making within Council of Ministers. 6. Under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU law would be subjected to the basic freedom and rights, admeasured by the Union member states. The EU would also be a member of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), thus bringing in turn, all EU institutions and associated laws under jurisdiction of the ECHR. 7. Under a new instrument known as the Citizens’ Initiative, European citizens would be able to take part in proposing EU laws. This new addition, under the LT promotes a form of direct democracy that makes way for nearly a million European nationals (all across Union member states) to put forward their proposals to European Commission. 8. There will be a new voting system for making decisions that will be made effective from 2014-2017. Under this new system, each of the Union’s Member State will have one vote. As per the new voting system, for passing a decision there must be two fulfilled criteria: minimum 50% of the Member States must favour the proposed referendum, and that 50% must necessarily represent a minimum of 65% of EU’s population. 9. Under the LT, the European Union will become one single body and the European Community would cease to exist. Conclusion From the above discourse, it is quite clear that under the LT some of the new provisions made have the potential of elevating the overall efficiency levels while also improving coherence of Unions’ external action. It is not likely that there would be any more revisions in the near future, as “With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, the European Union can finally close the lengthy saga of institutional reform, at least for the foreseeable future” (Broin, Lisbon Treaty enters into force: a brave new Europe is born? 2009). This also implies that LT might be the centre from where the unity amongst the Union members may move towards a less formal and a more extensible form of advancing ‘forward’ (Kurpas 2007:9). A critical analysis of the LT clearly hints that, if implemented well, it has the potential of offering better democratic rights for European citizens (that come under EU), greater chances for unity amongst the Union members, and a more powerful Union with a strong legal stand within the arena of global politics and power play. References Amendments to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty Establishing the European Community, 2007. Official Journal of the European Union, C 306, retrieved, http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:0010:0041:EN:PDF [Accessed 24th November 2011] Blockmans, S., and Wessel, R., 2011. “The European Union and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes in its Neighbourhood: The Emergence of a New Regional Security Actor?” In, A. Antoniadis, R. Schütze, E. Spaventa (Eds.), The European Union and Global Emergencies: A Law and Policy Analysis. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 73-103. Broin, P., 2009. Lisbon Treaty enters into force: a brave new Europe is born? Retrieved from http://www.iiea.com/blogosphere/lisbon-treaty-enters-into-force-a-brave-new-europe-is-born?gclid=CPvv79PGzqwCFYZ66wodmUE_WA [Accessed 24th November 2011] Church, C., and Phinnemore, D., 2010. “From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon.” In, Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, (eds.), European Union Politics. (3rd ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 48-68. Fioramonti, L., and S. Lucarelli, S., 2008. “How Do the Others See Us? European Political Identity and the External Image of the EU.” In, F. Cerutti and S. Lucarelli (eds.), The Search for a European Identity: Values, Policies and Legitimacy of the European Union. London: Routledge, 193-210. Fondation Robert Schuman, 2009. The Lisbon Treaty. Retrieved from  http://www.robert-schuman.eu/doc/divers/lisbonne/en/10fiches.pdf. [Accessed 24th November 2011] Gilbert, M., 2008. Narrating the Process: Questioning the Progressive Story of European Integration. Journal of Common Market Studies, 46 (3), pp. 641-662. Kurpas, S., 2007. The Treaty of Lisbon – How much ‘Constitution’ is left? An Overview of the Main Changes. Centre for European Policy Studies, No.147, December, retrieved from, http://aei.pitt.edu/7539/1/147.pdf [Accessed 24th November 2011] McAllister, R., 2010. European Union: An Historical and Political Survey, 2nd ed. London: Routledge. Reh, C., 2009. The Lisbon Treaty: De-Constitutionalizing the European Union? Journal of Common Market Studies, 47 (3), pp. 625-650. Solana, J., 18 February 2009. Address by the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, to the European Parliament, Brussels, Doc. S045/09. Treaty of Lisbon, 2007. Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12007L/htm/C2007306EN.01000101.htm [Accessed 24th November 2011] Read More