Making and breaking promises: the European Union under the Treaty of Lisbon

Summary:

The most surprising aspect of Europe’s newest treaty is not so much its content, but more the way it came into being. For the first time in the history of European integration, a treaty is not the result of a “night of the long knives” at an EU Summit, but rather a several-year process. This process, characterized by a series of advances and setbacks, began with the “Laeken Declaration”, in which the Heads of State and Government of the EU Member States recognized that the usual modes of diplomacy no longer represented an appropriate means for setting the course of future European politics.

Consequently in February 2002, a Convention presided by former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing was convened for the purpose of working on proposals on institutional and constitutional reforms of the European Union. Moreover, the Convention sought to find a “European Constitution” that would guarantee democratic principles in the enlarged EU while at the same time preserving its effectiveness both domestically and externally.

In July 2003, a Draft Constitutional Treaty was submitted to the European Heads of State and Government and, after approximately one year of further negotiations, was approved by the European Council. However, it did not take long for the ratification process to be derailed by the rejections of the Constitutional Treaty in the French and Dutch referenda of 2005.

Once again, the quo vadis Europa question pervaded EU political discourse and the European Council subsequently called for a period of reflection....In the following, we attempt to examine what the next treaty really has to offer and to assess to what extent the Treaty of Lisbon can fulfil its promise of more transparency, efficiency and democracy.