Lisbon Treaty

EU Leaders Gather for Signing Ceremony

EU leaders gathered in Lisbon on Thursday to sign the new European Treaty, hoping to put two difficult years behind them after French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitution in 2005.

After years of wrangling and setbacks European leaders gathered in Lisbon Thursday to sign the new European treaty. The heads of government signed the Lisbon Treaty during a two-hour ceremony at the Jeronimos Monastery, attended by 26 of the 27 heads of government.

The treaty has replaced the scuppered European Constitution, which was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005. The EU leaders have spent the last two years scrambling to agree on a scaled down treaty that is designed to make the administration of the bloc easier by streamlining many functions. It is also hoped this will allow the EU to act with more unity on global issues. The new treaty, the details of which were agreed in October, replaces the system of rotating six-month presidencies with a president who will serve a two-year term. There will also be a stronger foreign policy chief.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the new treaty would allow Europe to prepare itself to address global problems. "Now it is time to move ahead," he said in his speech in Lisbon. "Europe must tackle numerous challenges, both at home and abroad, and our citizens want results. Globalization is the common denominator of all those challenges."

By presenting the new agreement as less than a constitution, many European governments have been able to argue that it does not need to be presented to the electorates in referenda. Although the treaty will have to be ratified by all the member states, it will be voted on in the national parliaments. Ireland is the only member state that is obliged by its own constitution to hold a referendum.

WHAT THE LISBON TREATY MEANS

Faster Decision-Making

Starting in 2014, EU members will make decisions in the European Council according to the "double majority" voting system. For a vote to pass, at least 55 percent of member states, representing at least 65 percent of the EU population, must approve it. The current system, where 345 votes are divided among the countries according to the 2000 Nice Treaty, will be abolished. Under that agreement, Poland had 27 votes, only two fewer than Germany, despite the fact that it has only half as many inhabitants. However, the rules of the Nice Treaty can be applied for votes until 2017 if a country makes a request to do so.

Decisions can now be made in more policy areas than before by means of majority voting rather than by unanimous decisions. Exceptions to that will remain domestic, tax and social security issues as well as those relating to foreign policy.

Stating in 2014, each member state will no longer be entitled to an EU commissioner. Only two thirds -- or 18 of 27 -- of the countries will still have a representative on the European Commission, with positions held on a rotating basis.

More Democracy

Better Representation on the Foreign Stage

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been sharply criticized for not holding a referendum in the United Kingdom. The country is one of the most Euro-skeptic in the bloc and would be unlikely to approve anything that smacks of a loss of sovereignty. In what has been derided as a somewhat empty gesture, Brown has refused to attend today's ceremony and will sign the treaty later at a private lunch instead.

The leaders then fly to Brussels for a meeting and environmentalists have questioned the need for the leaders to fly to Lisbon in the first place. However, the leaders are compromising by sharing planes, and Portugal, current EU president, is to plant trees in two national parks to compensate for the CO2 emissions related to today's event.

smd/ap/reuters