For further reading; Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty (BBC News) Lycka till med den nya kommissionen (SvD) Europa - Treaty of Lisbon (official website) When the ratification of the proposed Constitutional Treaty failed, following the rejections in the referenda in France and in the Netherlands in 2005, a ‘period of reflection’ was initiated by the EU. The result from this period was the proposed Reform Treaty in 2007, later to be renamed the Lisbon Treaty. Compared to the initial Constitutional Treaty sensitive issues such as a hymn, symbols and the term ‘Constitution’ were washed away in the Lisbon Treaty, but the provisions and the principles remained in most parts the same. The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was finally achieved on the 3rd of November earlier this fall, even if two referenda were needed to ‘convince the Irish people’. One of the most remarkable reforms coming with the Lisbon Treaty is the new structure where the former EC and EU now are merged into the sole EU. The earlier three pillar system is thereby abandoned and replaced with a system referred to by Mr Norinder as ‘a gigantic planet’ consisting of three parts; The Treaty on European Union, The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the former EC Treaty) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. These three parts now have the same legal status. Regarding the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (renamed during the lecture to ‘the Funky Treaty’) one of the major changes compared to the EC Treaty is the expansion of the co-decision procedure which will now be the general decision-making procedure. Thereby the European Parliament’s power is strengthened in more than 40 policy areas, including the Common Agricultural Policy and the conclusion of International Agreements. A notable change in the Treaty on European Union is the emphasis put on the values that the EU is founded upon, for instance respect for human dignity, rule of law and respect for human rights. As Mr Norinder noted, these values are not controversial but they have not been included in the previous treaties. The Charter of Fundamental rights constitutes a new part of the EU. It is not a treaty but has the same legal status as a treaty - its provisions are binding on the Member States and on the EU institutions. To this end, Mr Norinder raised a warning flag for potential confusion and for problems concerning jurisdiction since the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental rights implies that there are now at least three sets of fundamental rights that bind the Member States of the EU; the Charter of Fundamental rights, the National Constitutions and the European Convention on Human Rights. The institutions of the European Union are also subject to reform in the Lisbon Treaty. The European Council is now a formal institution and according to Mr Norinder it will be the most powerful institution since it is the only institution with treaty-making power. The number of Members of the European Parliament is amended and capped at 750. The number of Commissioners in the Commission will be reduced to two thirds of the number of Member States in 2014 (as of today there is one Commissioner from each Member State). The former Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance are reformed into an overarching Court of Justice of the European Union consisting of the Court of Justice, the General Court and specialised courts. The Council will be more transparent with meetings open to the public. Qualified Majority Voting is to be applied in more policy areas and new rules for calculation of a Qualified Majority are to be introduced at a later stage. The system of rotating Presidencies of the Council will remain in place, meaning that the Member State holding the Presidency will continue to chair the meetings in the Council. However, the task for a Member State to hold the Presidency of the Council will no longer include the task to chair the European Council, since a new office, that of the President of the European Council, is introduced. The President of the European Council is elected by the Member States for a period of two and a half years. This office is currently held by Herman van Rompuy, or ‘that Belgian guy’ as Mr Norinder called him, citing one of his students. Another new office introduced is that of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, now held by Catherine Ashton from the United Kingdom. The High Representative will be heading the new European External Action Service - sometimes referred to as an EU Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The High Representative will also be Vice President of the Commission. One of the reasons for the introduction of these two new offices was for the EU to be able to answer the question of who to call when calling Europe. How this will work out in practice remains to be seen since the answer to that question is nowhere to be found in the Lisbon Treaty. Will it be the President of the European Council? The High Representative? The President of the Commission? The Rotating Presidency of the Council? Mr Norider stated that further discussions on the competences of these institutions are necessary. In the concluding discussion Mr Norinder raised the question whether we now, with the Lisbon Treaty in place, have established a United States of Europe. In his opinion the short answer is no. The underlying argument is that the European Council (i.e. the member states) is the most powerful institution - it is still the sole institution with powers to make treaties. However, innovations such as a High Representative of Foreign and Security Policy and a permanent President of the European Council and more supranational decision making are steps in a federal direction. Mr Norinder’s view of the present situation, with the Lisbon Treaty in place, is therefore that we have not yet established a United States of Europe, but that we have taken the first steps in that direction. JOHANNES ARVIDSON PERSSONLECTURE: THE LISBON TREATY: UNITED STATES OF EUROPE? - IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY & DEMOCRACY
On the 1st of December, the European Union’s new treaty, the Lisbon Treaty, entered into force. Appropriately enough, a lecture on the implications of the new Treaty was held in Lund the following day by Mr Henrik Norinder. Mr Norinder, who has a background in European and Swedish Constitutional Law and who has specialized in Competition Law and Internal Market Law, teaches EU Law at Lund University and is an associate at a law firm. During the lecture Mr Norinder gave a brief background of the Lisbon Treaty and highlighted some of the innovations in the document that from now on will constitute the legal basis for the EU. The lecture ended up in a discussion about whether the Lisbon Treaty could be seen as the creation of a ‘United States of Europe’.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Posts
