The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 between 27 European states that are members of the European Union (EU). It became effective on December 1, 2009. It is now the document that defines the Union, but it is not a constitution. It gives a common set of rules that the member states have agreed to use on subjects where they have decided to work together. It does better than previous treaties such as the Treaty of Rome and the Treaty of Maastricht. It gives the European Union new things, such as:
Treaty of Lisbon
Structure
Behind the EU Constitutional Treaty signed in 2004 had been the concept of repealing all existing EU treaties (Art. IV-437 TEU) and replacing them with a single text called "Constitution". However, after the Constitutional Treaty was defeated by referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005, this objective was explicitly abandoned in the mandate given in 2007 to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Reform Treaty. Instead, the substance of the Constitutional Treaty was incorporated into the existing treaty.
The Lisbon Treaty is therefore an "amending treaty", consisting essentially of the changes adopted to the previous treaties. It is structured as follows:
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| PreambleAmendments to |
The EU thus continues to be based on several treaties. The most important of these are the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), which was renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) by the Treaty of Lisbon. This name change occurred because, due to the changed structure of the EU, the European Community no longer existed as an institution with its own name; all its functions were taken over by the EU.
In addition to the two main treaties, other documents to which the EU Treaty refers are part of EU primary law. These are 37 protocols and 2 annexes (cf. Art. 51 EU Treaty) as well as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (cf. Art. 6 para. 1 EU Treaty). In addition, according to Art. 6 (2) of the EU Treaty, the EU is to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The 65 declarations annexed to the Final Act and the "Explanations on the Charter of Fundamental Rights" do not form part of the treaties in the absence of a special order and thus do not belong to primary law. However, both serve as an aid to interpretation (within the meaning of Article 31 (2) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) and can be used, for example, to support court decisions. The declarations annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon clarify positions of individual or all Member States on certain aspects.
Chronology
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| European Communities | Three pillars of the European Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| European Political Cooperation (EPC) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Questions and Answers
Q: What is the Treaty of Lisbon?
A: The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 between 27 European states that are members of the European Union (EU).
Q: When did the Treaty of Lisbon become effective?
A: The Treaty of Lisbon became effective on December 1, 2009.
Q: Is the Treaty of Lisbon a constitution?
A: No, the Treaty of Lisbon is not a constitution.
Q: What does the Treaty of Lisbon give to the European Union?
A: The Treaty of Lisbon gives the European Union new things, such as a common set of rules that the member states have agreed to use on subjects where they have decided to work together.
Q: How does the Treaty of Lisbon compare to previous treaties?
A: The Treaty of Lisbon does better than previous treaties such as the Treaty of Rome and the Treaty of Maastricht.
Q: What is the purpose of the Treaty of Lisbon?
A: The purpose of the Treaty of Lisbon is to define the European Union.
Q: How many European states signed the Treaty of Lisbon?
A: 27 European states that are members of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon.