The Lisbon Treaty: A Brief Outline

The story of the Lisbon Treaty cannot be told--nor can a brief outline thereof be sketched--without going back to the Constitutional Treaty, which represents the background to the Lisbon Treaty and against which the Lisbon Treaty ought to be assessed. That is why the present outline will first refer to the Constitutional Treaty, before addressing the structure and the content of the Lisbon Treaty

Can the Enlarged European Union Continue to be that United

Although a tribute to Jean-Claude Piris could easily stretch through the whole spectrum of European Union law-which broadened in part thanks to his active contribution over the twenty-year term when he served as Legal Adviser to the Council of the European Union, the European Council, and several intergovernmental conferences for the reform of the treaties-it is appropriate to devote the following lines to the theme of institutional strengthening, which always attracted his consideration and thinking and to which he contributed some illuminating and forward-looking writings; and it is tempting to do so in the light of a specific feature that presently keeps him busy as a Senior Fellow in New York: Two-Speed Europe

Réflexions sur le traité d'Amsterdam, contexte général et quelques aspects particuliers

Maganza Giorgio. Réflexions sur le traité d'Amsterdam, contexte général et quelques aspects particuliers. In: Annuaire français de droit international, volume 43, 1997. pp. 657-670

The Treaty of Amsterdam\u27s Changes to the Common Foreign and Security Policy Chapter and an Overview of the Opening Enlargement Process

The European Union (“Union” or “EU”) is an important actor in the international arena. The Union behaves and acts as a political entity towards the outside world and it is perceived as such. That is certainly the case for international economic relations, where the European Community (“EC” or “Community”) has played a significant role as a major partner in multilateral negotiations for several years now. It is more frequently the case with respect to foreign policy matters, as a result of the choice made by the signatories to the Maastricht Treaty (“Treaty on European Union” or “TEU”) in which the signatories decided to give the Union the means to speak with one voice in world affairs and to conduct effective external action that would not be limited to economic and trade relations. Against this background, the purpose of this Essay is twofold: first, to provide a summary account of the main changes to the common foreign and security policy (“CFSP”) chapter resulting from the Treaty of Amsterdam (or “Treaty”), and second, to sketch a very general view of the opening enlargement process

The Lisbon Treaty: A Brief Outline

The story of the Lisbon Treaty cannot be told--nor can a brief outline thereof be sketched--without going back to the Constitutional Treaty, which represents the background to the Lisbon Treaty and against which the Lisbon Treaty ought to be assessed. That is why the present outline will first refer to the Constitutional Treaty, before addressing the structure and the content of the Lisbon Treaty

The Amsterdam Treaty: Overview and Institutional Aspects

The overall picture presented by the media regarding the two day and two night Amsterdam meeting of the Heads of State and Government in June 1997 was largely negative. The main reason for the negativity was that the Intergovernmental Conference (“IGC”), by failing to agree on Treaty amendments concerning the size of the Commission and the weighting system for qualified majority voting in the Council, supposedly could not produce satisfactory responses as to the need to reform the institutions of the European Union with a view to its next enlargement. Is this picture justified in light of the actual outcome of the IGC? It certainly would be if the IGC\u27s scope had been limited to institutional reform and if the IGC had not produced any concrete results in the institutional field. But neither of these statements is true. One only needs to look at the changes brought about by the Treaty of Amsterdam to appreciate the extent of the reform. The purpose of this Article is to provide such an illustrative overview of the reform, with particular emphasis on institutional aspects. This will be done against the background of the preparation and development of the IGC