Central Bank The European Central Bank gained the official status of being an EU institution, and the
European Council was given the right to appoint
presidents of the European Central Bank through a
qualified majority vote. On a related topic, the
euro became the official currency of the Union (though not affecting opt-outs or the process of
Eurozone enlargement).
Judiciary The re-named the
Court of Justice of the European Union is the judicial branch of the EU, settling disputes brought to it about the interpretation and application of EU law and disputes among the institutions or between them and member states. Its two sub courts are the
General Court (re-named, previously the Court of First Instance) and the supreme
Court of Justice. The previous
Civil Service Tribunal was abolished, with the General Court now taking responsibility for such cases. The jurisdiction of the courts continued to be excluded from matters of foreign policy, though new jurisdiction to review foreign policy sanction measures, as well as certain '
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice' (AFSJ) matters not concerning policing and criminal cooperation, were added.
Council of Ministers The treaty has expanded the use of
qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council of Ministers by having it replace unanimity as the standard
voting procedure in almost every policy area outside taxation and foreign policy. Moreover, taking effect in 2014, the definition of a
qualified majority was changed: a qualified majority is reached when at least 55% of all member states, who together comprise at least 65% of EU citizens, vote in favour of a proposal. When the Council of Ministers is acting neither on a proposal of the Commission nor on one of the High Representative, QMV requires 72% of the member states while the population requirement remains the same. However, the "blocking minority" that corresponds to these figures must comprise at least 4 countries. Hence, the voting powers of the member states are based on their population, and are no longer dependent on a negotiable system of voting points. The reform of
qualified majority voting (QMV) in the
Council was one of the main issues in the negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty. The earlier rules for QMV, set in the Treaty of Nice and applying until 2014, required a majority of countries (50% / 67%), voting weights (74%), and population (62%). Between 2014 and 2017 a transitional phase took place where the new QMV rules apply, but where the old Nice treaty voting weights could be applied when a member state formally requested it. Moreover, during that same period, a new version of the 1994 "
Ioannina compromise" allowed small minorities of EU states to call for further examination of proposals before putting them to a vote. The treaty instructs that Council deliberations on legislation (that include debate and voting) will be held in public (televised), as was already the case in the European Parliament. The
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, rotates among member states every six months, with a "Trio" formed by three consecutive Presidencies in order to provide more continuity to their conduct. However, the
Foreign Affairs Council (one configuration of the Council of ministers), is no longer chaired by the representative of the member state holding the Presidency, but rather by the person holding the newly created post of
High Representative. Additionally the
Euro Group sub-unit of
ECOFIN Eurozone countries was formalized.
European Council The
European Council officially gains the status of an EU institution, thus being separated from the Council of ministers. It continues to be composed of the
heads of state or government of the Union's
member states along with the (nonvoting)
President of the European Commission and its own president. The President of the European Council is appointed for a two and a half-year term in a
qualified majority vote of the European Council. A president can be reappointed once, and be removed by the same voting procedure. Unlike the post of
President of the European Commission, the appointment of the President of the European Council does not have to reflect the composition of the
European Parliament. The president's work involves coordinating the work of the European Council, hosting its meetings and reporting its activities to the
European Parliament after each meeting. This makes the president the lynchpin of negotiations to find agreement at European Council meetings, which has become a more onerous task with successive enlargement of the EU to 28 Member States. The president also chairs informal summits of the 20 Member States which use the euro as their currency. Additionally, the president provides external representation to the Union on foreign policy and security matters when such representation is required at the level of heads of state or government (bilateral summits and G8/G20). Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Council is charged with setting the strategic priorities of the Union, and in practice with handling crises. It has a key role in appointments, including the Commission, the
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the members of the Board of the European Central Bank; the suspension of membership rights; changing the voting systems in the treaties bridging clauses. Under the
emergency brake procedure, a state may refer contentious legislation from the Council of ministers to the European Council if it is outvoted in the Council of ministers, notwithstanding that it may still be outvoted in the European Council.
Parliament The legislative power of the
European Parliament increases, as the
codecision procedure with the Council of the EU is extended to almost all areas of policy. This procedure is slightly modified and renamed
ordinary legislative procedure. will be used in new policy areas, increasing the power of the Parliament. In the few remaining areas, called "special legislative procedures", Parliament now has either the right of consent to a Council of the EU measure, or vice versa, except in the few cases where the old
Consultation procedure still applies, wherein the Council of the EU will only need to consult the European Parliament before voting on the Commission proposal. Council is then not bound by the Parliament's position but only by the obligation to consult it. Parliament would need to be consulted again if the Council of ministers deviated too far from the initial proposal. The Commission will have to submit each proposed
budget of the European Union directly to Parliament, which, jointly with the Council, must approve the budget in its entirety. The Treaty changes the way in which
MEP seats are apportioned among member states. Rather than setting out a precise number (as it was the case in every previous treaty), the Treaty of Lisbon gives the power to the Council of the EU, acting unanimously on the initiative of the Parliament and with its consent, to adopt a decision fixing the number of MEPs for each member state, with the number of MEPs to be
degressively proportional to the number of citizens of each member state. A draft decision fixing the apportionment of MEPs was annexed to the treaty itself and, had Lisbon been in force at the time of
2009 European Parliament elections, but as the Lisbon treaty entered into force only after the 2009 European elections, a treaty amendment to grant extra seats to those Member States due to gain extra seats under Lisbon, but without waiting until the 2014 elections, was agreed in 2010. The number of MEPs is limited to 750, in addition to the
President of the Parliament. Additionally, the Treaty of Lisbon reduces the maximum number of MEPs from a member state from 99 to 96 (affecting Germany) and increases the minimal number from 5 to 6 (affecting Malta). When new Member States join the EU, they initially have supernumary seats until the next elections when an overall re-apportion is made (as happened when Croatia joined in 2013).
National parliaments The Treaty of Lisbon expanded the role of Member States' parliaments in the legislative processes of the EU by giving them a prior scrutiny of legislative proposals before the Council and the Parliament can take a position. The Treaty of Lisbon provides for national parliaments "to contribute to the good functioning of the Union" through receiving draft EU legislation, seeing to it that the
principle of subsidiarity is respected, taking part in the evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of the Union policies in the
area of freedom, security and justice, being involved in the political monitoring of
Europol and the evaluation of
Eurojust's activities, being notified of applications for
EU accession, taking part in the inter-parliamentary cooperation between national parliaments and with the
European Parliament. The Treaty of Lisbon allows national parliaments eight weeks to study legislative proposals made by the
European Commission which gives them time to shape the position to be taken by their minister in the Council or even give him or her a mandate. They may also decide to send a
reasoned opinion if they consider a propopsal to be incompatible with the principle of subsidiarity and ask for it to be reviewed. If one third (or one quarter, where the proposed EU measure concerns freedom, justice and security) of national parliaments are in favour of a review, the Commission would have to review the measure and if it decides to maintain it, must give a reasoned opinion to the
Union legislator as to why it considers the measure to be compatible with subsidiarity. If half of the national parliaments take that view, then the Council (by 55 percent of the member states) or the European Parliament (by a simple majority) may immediately terminate the legislative procedure.
Commission , seat of the
European Commission in
Brussels. The
Commission of the European Communities was officially renamed
European Commission. that the European Council could unanimously decide to alter this number. Following the first Irish referendum on Lisbon, the European Council decided in December 2008 to revert to one Commissioner per member state with effect from the date of entry into force of the Treaty. The person holding the new post of
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy automatically becomes also a
Vice-President of the Commission.
Foreign relations and security High Representative In an effort to ensure greater coordination and consistency in EU foreign policy, the Treaty of Lisbon created a
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
de facto merging the post of
High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the
European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy. The High Representative is
Vice-President of the Commission, the administrator of the
European Defence Agency but not the
Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, which reverts to being a separate administrative post. He or she has a right to propose defence or security missions. In the proposed constitution this post was called the
Union Minister of Foreign Affairs. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is in charge of an
External Action Service also created by the Treaty of Lisbon. This is essentially a common Foreign Office or Diplomatic Corps for the Union.
Mutual solidarity Under the Treaty of Lisbon, Member States should assist if a member state is subject to a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster (but any joint military action is subject to the provisions of Article 31 of the consolidated Treaty of European Union, which recognises various national concerns). In addition, several provisions of the treaties have been amended to include solidarity in matters of energy supply and changes to the energy policy within the EU.
Defence prospects The treaty foresees that the
European Security and Defence Policy will lead to a common defence for the EU when the
European Council resolves unanimously to do so, and provided that all member states give their approval through their usual constitutional procedures. Additionally, the area of defence has become available to
enhanced co-operation, potentially allowing for a defence integration that excludes member states with policies of neutrality. Countries with significant military capabilities are envisioned to form a
Permanent Structured Cooperation in Defence.
Legal consolidation Prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Union comprised a system of
three legal pillars, of which only the
European Communities pillar had its own
legal personality. The Treaty of Lisbon abolished this pillar system, and as a consolidated entity, the European Union succeeded the legal personality of the
European Communities. Therefore, the EU is now able to sign international treaties in its own name. The European Union gained for example membership of the
World Trade Organization immediately after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, since the European Communities was already a member of that organisation. After negotiating a
Brexit withdrawal agreement, the UK left the Union on 31 January 2020. A new provision in the Treaty of Lisbon is that the status of French, Dutch and Danish overseas territories can be changed more easily, by no longer requiring a full treaty revision. Instead, the European Council may, on the initiative of the member state concerned, change the status of an
overseas country or territory (OCT) to an
outermost region (OMR) or vice versa. This provision was included on a proposal by the Netherlands, which was investigating the future of the
Netherlands Antilles and
Aruba in the European Union as part of an institutional reform process that was taking place in the Netherlands Antilles.
Revision procedures The Lisbon Treaty creates two different ways for further amendments of the European Union treaties: an ordinary revision procedure which is broadly similar to the present process in that it involves convening an intergovernmental conference, and a simplified revision procedure whereby Part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which deals with Union policies and internal actions, could be amended by a unanimous decision of the
European Council subject to ratification by all member states in the usual manner. The Treaty also provides for the
passerelle clauses which allows the European Council to unanimously decide to move from unanimous voting to
qualified majority voting, and move from a
special legislative procedure to the
ordinary legislative procedure.
Ordinary revision procedure • Proposals to amend the treaties are submitted by a Member State, the European Parliament or the European Commission to the Council of Ministers who, in turn, submit them to the European Council and notify member states. There are no limits on what kind of amendments can be proposed. • The European Council, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission, votes to consider the proposals on the basis of a simple majority, and then either: • The President of the European Council convenes a convention containing representatives of national parliaments, governments, the European Parliament and the European Commission, to further consider the proposals. In due course, the convention submits its final recommendation to the European Council. • Or the European Council decides, with the consent of the European Parliament, not to convene a convention, and set the terms of reference for the inter-governmental conference itself. • The President of the European Council convenes an inter-governmental conference consisting of representatives of each member-state's government. The conference drafts and finalises a treaty based on the convention's recommendation or on the European Council's terms of reference. • EU leaders sign the treaty. • All member states must then ratify the treaty "in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements", if it is to come into force.
Simplified revision procedure • Proposals to amend Part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union are submitted by a Member State, the European Parliament or the European Commission to the Council of Ministers who, in turn, submit them to the European Council and notify member states. Proposed amendments cannot increase the competences of the Union. • The European Council, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission, votes to adopt a decision amending Part three on the basis of the proposals by unanimity. • All member states must approve the decision "in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements", if it is to come into force.
The passerelle clause The treaty also allows for the changing of voting procedures without amending the EU treaties. Under this clause the European Council can, after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, vote unanimously to: • allow the Council of Ministers to act on the basis of qualified majority in areas where they previously had to act on the basis of unanimity. (This is not available for decisions with defence or military implications.) • allow for legislation to be adopted on the basis of the ordinary legislative procedure where it previously was to be adopted on the basis of a special legislative procedure. A decision of the European Council to use either of these provisions can only come into effect if, six months after all national parliaments had been given notice of the decision, none object to it. == Opt-outs ==