European leadership recognised on October 19 that the European Union has reached an historic crossroads and that inertia in carrying out reforms would start the slow death of the idea for a strong pan-European community.

EU skepticism has been gaining ground amid six-year dissension over a new constitution to lead an enlarged union out of an identity crisis that peaked in 2005. Then both France and the Netherlands rejected at referenda the draft constitution, which aimed at spearheading changes befitting a union with 12 new members.

On October 19, EU leaders in Lisbon voted for a treaty to omit all mentions of a constitution but carrying all the traits a constitution purports. It provides for a much-needed institutional reform for a swifter and more efficient decision making process in as many as 40 areas and a reshuffle of top-tier structures. Hopefully, eventually it should shape an EU with the authority to react quick on issues vital to a globalising world.

The final wording of the treaty is due for signing on December 13 this year. If all national parliaments ratify it by December 31 next year, the document will come into effect in January 2009. France, whose president promoted the idea of a reform rather than constitutional treaty, declared readiness to ratify the treaty before the year expires and become the first to vow trust in the paper.

Ratification should go smoothly. The amending nature of the document helps avert the 2005 referenda mishaps by allowing the 27 EU member states to opt for passage of the treaty in parliament alone – and not through a referendum. To date, only Ireland is set for a referendum.

The concessions
The signing did cost several concessions. Despite the insistence of the European Central Bank (ECB) on a consistent spelling of the European currency, Bulgaria traded its positive vote for the right to spell the “euro” as “evro” in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Italy won an extra seat to pare its European Parliament representation to that of the UK, which is still one fewer than that of France.

Poland earned an advocate general seat in the European Court of Justice and pushed the Ioannina mechanism through. The mechanism, though it will not feature as a clause in the Lisbon Treaty and will be passed through an accompanying declaration, allows a group of states with no blocking majority to freeze a decision for a reasonable period of time.

Austria earned the withdrawal of legal action for its quota for foreign students at medical universities.

The novelties
EU leaders agreed that the treaty paves the way toward building an outbound Union now that the internal crisis is about to draw to a close and the union frees energy for issues of global importance.

Globalisation would come as top priority, participants in the Lisbon Summit said. EU leaders pinpointed the union had several main areas to mind when it came to globalisation. Those would be energy security, fight against terrorism, climate change, alongside innovation, though not one predicated on isolation or protectionism.

Jose Luis Socrates, the president of incumbent president of the EU Portugal, said on treaty signing that the December 13 summit in Lisbon would put up for approval a declaration on ways to cope with globalisation. The declaration should equip the EU with the authority to respond to global challenges more swiftly. Namely, Portugal would proffer Sarkozy’s idea for the formation a “group of wise men” to decide on issues of global importance.

Swifter and more flexible response will also come once the treaty comes into effect and the EU gets the opportunity to pass decisions with a qualified majority – rather than unanimous vote – in as many as 40 areas.

A leaner top-tier executive structure will also come in support of more efficient foreign policy making. The treaty allows for the merger of the posts of foreign and security policy chief and external relations commissioner into a new position named High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy. Coupled with the termination of the rotating presidency principle, external players would have a single point of contact on foreign matters.

The reform treaty also provides for the creation of a longer-term European Council president, intended to be assumed by a respectable politician in the international community. Although he will originally be vested with representative powers only, his authority is expected to expand to an extent to make a president of the European Commission unnecessary, EU optimists envision.

This scenario is one to look forward because the treaty already foresees the downsizing of the executive European Commission and the new principle for commissioner rotation.

A change in the same direction seems to be the higher powers granted to national parliaments. Parliaments will now have the right to formally object to European Commission decisions within an eight-week period. Although this had previously been done previously on an informal basis, parliaments now have the opportunity to bend the EU’s executive into alternative decisions. The treaty sees the commission reconsidering a decision whenever half the parliaments vote against it.

Treaty intent
Although the treaty represents no cure-all for internal problems within the European Union, it does allow a union, whose members grew by 12 since 2004, to reach operational efficiency.

Furthermore, hopes are that the treaty will trigger the creation of mechanisms to serve EU citizens better. Calls that the union has been growing the distance between EU goals and the welfare of citizens are increasing. The EU has received the most criticism for sluggish response to challenges related to social welfare, flexibility of the labour market and ageing population.

The treaty is expected to narrow this gap. The more efficient decision making system should help to faster address the issues mentioned above and, thus, help restore confidence in the EU.

Taking the treaty as a conduit for EU’s becoming an authoritative global player, it should put the EU on an equal footing with, say, Russia and the US, on issues of global importance. EU optimists see the union becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council, for example.

The Lisbon Treaty is all about creating hopes for a fundamental reform and meeting expectations for its implementation. Since growing Euro-skepticism is on the map, EU leadership should take the pains to transform hopes into reality.