Traktat z Lizbony - reforma czy jej pozory?
The treaty of Lisbon - a reform or its appearances?

Summary/Abstract: The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13th December 2007 by representatives of 27 EU Member States after almost three years of incertitude as to the further fate of the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe (2004). It significantly amends the present Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community (which would be renamed as the "Treaty on functioning of the European Union") and should enter into force on 1 January 2009, after all Member States have deposited the instruments of ratification. The modifications introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon in many aspects reflect the changes agreed in the Treaty establish ing the Constitution for Europe, however it does not constitute a s of the latter Treaty. Some important provisions of the Constitution for Europe were a simple repetition not inserted into the amending treaty in order to reduce the risk of "non-ratification" (with the main examples of the clause of primacy or Minister of Foreign Affaires). On the other hand some new solutions, not provided in the Constitutional Treaty, were added to the Lisbon Treaty, for the same reason. The main aim of the article is to point out and assess the modifications introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon in respect both to the present legal situation and to the solu tions proposed in the Constitution for Europe. The authors undertake a task to evaluate the real "reforming value" of the Lisbon Treaty. To avoid associations with the Constitutional Treaty, it was decided to retain the structure of two treaties: Treaty on European Union and Treaty on functioning of the European Union instead of replac ing them by one Treaty. The European Union will replace and succeed the European Community, thus becoming a coherent international organization equipped with legal personality. One of the consequences of this fundamental change will be the s sion of the three pillar structure of the EU, established in the Treaty of Maastricht e suppres in 1992. The paper examines modifications introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in the following fields: the protection of fundamental rights (concentrating on the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the potential accession by the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights); the future Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, institutional changes (in the functioning of the European Council, Council, European Parliament, Commission, European Court of Justice and advisory bodies); the role of national parliaments, as well as changes brought to the substantial EC law (i.e. the suppression of the notion of "common market" or the addition f some new competences for the EU). The political reasons for not retaining some solutions proposed by the Constitutional Treaty and for adding some new modifications caused that the reform introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon is certainly "milder" than the one planned in the Treaty estab lishing the Constitution for Europe. Many necessary institutional changes are post poned for several years and made dependant of the further unanimous decisions of the European Council. Some solutions concerning substantial law (like the suppres sion from the list of EU aims the protection of the undistorted competition) were introduced only to ease the ratification process in Member States of the EU (par ticularly France). This escape from the "shadow" of the Constitution for Europe reduced the reforming value of the Treaty of Lisbon. Certainly the main aim of the Constitution, namely the "simplification" of the system of EU law was not achieved. Still the authors are of the opinion that the reforms introduced by this Treaty were not apparent as they may lead to the better functioning of the European Union.

• Details
• Contents