The Future of EU Treaty Amendments

Summary:

The article is based on an assumption, which is borne out by the initial commotion of Treaty amendments planned or agreed since the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, that the EU has not ended the Treaty amendment process. Rather, it has moved from a period characterized by a smaller number of big Treaty amendments to a period which might entail a larger number of small Treaty amendments.

Given the continued relevance of the issue of Treaty amendments and the complexity of the legal issues resulting from the different forms of Treaty amendment, including possible disputes about the correct procedure to follow, this paper examines in detail the four types of Treaty amendment procedures and all of the variations upon them. Also, the key underlying issues of the validity of Treaty amendments and the possible substance of selected potential substantive Treaty amendments are analysed.