The Treaty of Lisbon
The EU heads of state and government signed the new Treaty for the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon on 13 December 2007. The treaty will not apply until and unless ratified by each of the EU's 27 members, and the ratification process started promtly. The treaty is not ratified by all member states and enters into force 1 December 2009. In Sweden, The Riksdag voted to ratify the EU Lisbon Treaty on 20 November 2008.
The Treaty will enter into force on 1 December 2009
Photo: Gunnar Seijbold/Government Offices of Sweden
When Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the Treaty on 3 November 2009 all 27 Member States have approved the Treaty.
- I am very pleased that president Klaus today has signed the Lisbon Treaty. His signature ends a far too long period of institutional focus within the EU. It opens up for a more democratic, transparent and efficent Union, says Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in a statement.
The ratification instruments are deposited in Rome and the process to implement the treaty has started.
Final storage in Rome
When all the treaties are signed, the instruments of ratification, as they are known, will be transported to premises of the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. All international agreements or treaties have a body/organisation or country administering the instruments of ratification. As of 1957, Italy has the role of Depositary. This means, for example, that Italy has the responsiblity of receiving, confirming and informing the EU's Member States about what happens with the instruments.
Appointment of new leaders
The Swedish Presidency called for an extra EU summit in Brussels 19 November 2009 where the Heads of State or Government reached a political agreement on the appointments of President of the European Council, Mr Herman van Rompuy, and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms Catherine Ashton. The Secretary-General of the Council was also appointed, Pierre de Boissieu.
The most important features of the Treaty of Lisbon are
- More access and openness. The meetings of the Council of Ministers are to be open to the public. The EU principle of public access is given greater weight.
- Easier to take decisions. The number of policy areas where decisions are to be taken by qualified majority is to increase.
- More power to national parliaments. National parliaments will monitor whether decisions are to be taken at EU level or in the Member States, i.e., they will be able to act as watchdogs of the principle of subsidiarity.
- More power to the European Parliament. There will be co-decision by the Parliament in considerably more areas.
- Clearer for citizens. The Charter of Fundamental Rights will become legally binding for the EU institutions and member countries when they apply EU legislation and regulations. The EU will accede to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
- More coordinated foreign policy. The Common Foreign and Security Policy will be coordinated by a High Representative. The EU will be able to speak with one voice in the global arena.
- Action for climate and energy. The EU will promote measures at international level to deal with environmental problems and climate change.
The Treaty of Lisbon will not replace previous Treaties, but the Treaties applying today will be changed and added to. Compared with the Constitutional Treaty, symbolic texts that dealt with the EU flag and anthem have been removed and some terms have been altered. The new rules concerning the allocation of votes between Member States in the Council of Ministers have been postponed until 2014 at the earliest and until then the Treaty of Nice voting rules will apply.
