THE LISBON TREATY 2007 AND EU CITIZENS

The Lisbon Treaty 2007 And EU Citizens



The Lisbon Treaty 2007 And EU Citizens

The Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies (LIEIS) held a two-day conference on 'Beyond the Lisbon Treaty: Ensuring the long-term viability and vitality of the EU' on 12 and 13 July 2008 at the Palazzo Mundell in Santa Colomba? near Siena. This meeting was the third in a series of conferences as part of a multi-annual project on the EU jointly conceived by Robert Mundell? Professor of Economics at Columbia University and 1999 Nobel Laureate in Economics? and Armand Clesse? Director of the LIEIS. The first in this series of seminars took place in Schengen on 2 and 3 December 2006 and the second in Santa Colomba on 2 and 3 June 2007. The 2006 Schengen conference was entitled 'Possible political structures for the EU' and focused on the following three questions: the fundamental challenges facing the Union? potential finalities or purposes of the EU? and ways or means of achieving them.TP 1 PT The 2007 Santa Colomba conference was entitled 'Searching for a new political dispensation for the EU' and revisited the question of the key challenges which the EU confronts? outlining rival scenarios for the year 2057. It also discussed the case for the status quo? for more integration and for less integration. Based on these two meetings? the 2008 Santa Colomba conference shifted the focus from more general themes towards a series of more specific conceptual questions (such as the divergence or convergence of the twin objective of viability and vitality)? policy issues (including the EU's role in the world)? as well as constitutional and institutional problems (like the possible need for a 'constitutionalising' process or the fusion of the Commission with the Council Presidency).TP 3 PT In line with the earlier conferences? the objective of this latest meeting was? first of all? to address questions and problems that are not dealt with sufficiently in academic research and official debate and? second? to combine conceptual insights with empirical description in order to formulate both new ideas and concrete policy recommendations. Beginning with the causes and consequences of the Irish No and ending with questions of constitutional change and institutional reform? the six sessions were designed to cover both current concerns and long-term challenges.

In his introductory remarks? UArmand ClesseU? Director of the LIEIS? wondered whether the whole process of integration and enlargement is stuck. Is the EU capable of moving at all? Or can it not even agree on minor reforms of its institutions? Is it appropriate to speak of both enlargement and integration fatigue? Is the Union condemned to muddle through? unable or perhaps even unwilling to change its present trajectory of stagnation and regression? I. Implications and Consequences of the Irish Referendum the first part of the conference was devoted to the causes and consequences of the Irish No.

Referring to a recent opinion article of his? TP 4 PT Larry SiedentopU set out his analysis of what ...