About: treaty

Which institutions for the euro area?

José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy have already sketched out the broad outlines of an institutional architecture for the euro area that is sound in monetary matters but which needs to be further improved by combining effectiveness and legitimacy, writes António Vitorino.

Two roads towards a European federation

If José Manuel Barroso's ideas for institutional reforms are established, the political consolidation cannot but stabilise the economy and the financial market. The implementation of fiscal union and of democratic union are not conflicting goals, argue Guido Montani and Antonio Padoa-Shioppa.

Romania and the EU: There is life after the referendum

Romania has to learn that, just as there was no easy way in, there is no easy way inside the EU club either. The European Commission is the guardian of the treaties and will act as such, as it did with other countries as well. This is one important lesson, says Radu Magdin.

The post-mortem on ACTA

The effects of the ACTA are serious and far-reaching, touching the health and lives of people in poorer countries worldwide. The ambiguity with which the treaty is written provides significant scope for improper implementation with the potential to create more harm than benefit, argues Andreas Geiger.

Can an Irish protocol be added to Croatia’s Accession Agreement?

"There is unlikely to be anyone with locus standi who would challenge non-compliance with Community law [in the European Court of Justice]" on the Irish protocol issue, writes Stanley Crossick, the founder of the European Policy Centre and a commentator on EU policies, on his blog.

Ireland’s future after Lisbon

Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty this summer "endangers the national interest as defined for the past half century," according to a November paper from the Dublin-based Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).

Appointing the next European Council president

Developing a procedure for the appointment of the first permanent president of the European Council would be more useful at this stage than putting forward names of individuals, according to French MEP Alain Lamassoure.

Treaty of Lisbon ‘must not fail’

The Treaty of Lisbon represents the abandonment of the "constitutional concept" whereby the current EU treaties would have been replaced by a single text, writes Marianne Dony for the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

The Reform Treaty: two treaties for the price of one?

The EU's Reform Treaty has actually produced two treaties: "a treaty on the EU, which contains most of the institutional provisions, and a second treaty on the functioning of the Union", write Daniel Gros and Stefano Micossi of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

Understanding the Lisbon European Council and the Reform Treaty

The draft Reform Treaty, adopted by the EU 27 at the Lisbon Council on 18 and 19 October is "modest but makes it possible to break the institutional stalemate", writes Jean-Dominique Giuliani in an October paper from the Robert Schuman Foundation.

Treaty reform: over and done with…at last

Last week's treaty summit may mark the end of an entire phase of the European integration process in which progress has chiefly been made through institutional "giant leaps forward", argues a post-summit analysis from the European Policy Centre (EPC).

Europe’s future: a chance for wise men?

It is not a foregone conclusion that the 'committee of wise men' proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy to reshape the EU's future will be a success, and it is vital to prevent it from being "instrumentalised in the political arena", argues a new Spotlight Europe paper.

The Reform Treaty and its implications explained

An agreement on the new Reform Treaty looks likely at this week's summit, according to Hugo Brady and Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform (CER).

Implications of the Reform Treaty for EU Justice and Home Affairs policies

The field of Justice and Home Affairs is among those most "fundamentally changed" by the Reform Treaty, write Sergio Carrera and Florian Geyer in a 17 August 2007 paper for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

Understanding the Brussels agreement on Reform Treaty

On 23 July, the EU launched an Intergovernmental Conference to provide a legal basis for the June Summit's political agreement, and prepare a text to revise the current treaties. Jean-Dominique Giuliani of the Robert Schuman Foundation outlines the new perspectives that will potentially become European policy following this turning point.

EU moves from ‘disastrous’ Constitution experiment

EU member states have agreed on a blueprint for a new Treaty, rescuing a number of key institutional reforms but amending only the existing EU Framework. Hugo Brady, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), states that the Treaty is an admission that the enlarged Union has become much more diverse.

A way out of the EU’s Constitutional dilemma

Those member states who supported the original Constitutional Treaty (CT) should demand a radical revision of the current treaty amendment procedure in return for their readiness to compromise in the forthcoming intergovernmental conference (IGC), writes Janis A. Emmanouilidis of the Centre for Applied Policy Research (CAP) in a June 2007 paper.

The Constitutional Summit: Who wants what and why?

The impasse over the Constitutional Treaty shows that old cleavages and conflicts in Europe are resurfacing, with new coalitions of interest becoming apparent, write Dominik Hierlemann (Bertelsmann Stiftung) and Sarah Seeger (Centre for Applied Policy Research) in a June 2007 paper for the Spotlight Europe series.

The EU needs a new Treaty

The EU is in urgent need of a new Treaty, argue Richard Baldwin and Mika Widgren in a June paper for the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London. The new Treaty simply must reform the current EU decision-making system, whatever other 'filler' items it may contain, the paper insists.

How the EU could overcome the current Constitutional crisis

The present impasse over the Constitutional Treaty is different from its predecessors, because it represents a decline in public support for the EU with a large decrease in motivation on the part of European leaders, argue Olivier Costa and Paul Magnette in a May 2007 Garnet policy brief.

Europe’s future – a road map to a new Treaty

A solution to the EU's Constitutional crisis is within reach if leaders concentrate on a short treaty designed to make the Union work better, claims a Friends of Europe discussion paper, published in May 2007. A divided Europe is the risk of failure on the constitutional issue, the report declares.

The draft Constitution for Europe: Good news for the environment?

In assessing the environmental provisions of the constitution's final draft, the two key questions are: does the text live up to the commitments currently in the European Treaties, and does it go beyond the existing commitments. The following provides a brief analysis, in response to these questions.