Published: 4 November, 2009, 05:30
Edited: 19 November, 2010, 16:59
The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty brings about a new era in EU political affairs and in the international arena, as well.
The treaty consists of the following points – it creates the new post of an EU President (President of European Council), it creates the new post of high representative for foreign affairs, more decisions will be implemented by the majority, rather than by unanimous vote, and a row of other points. These, however, I feel are the most important. The road that the European Union is taking is not unique. It is unique in that it is occurring at a time when such shifts are occurring between civilized, developed nations. It is not unique in that the United States followed the same path when it was developing the revolutionary idea of a representative state.
When the United States was declared independent, it drafted the Articles of the Confederation. For those who do not remember their US History – the US was a confederation in the beginning. Each state was a sovereign. It could raise an army, print its own currency, and have a government that was quite autonomous and independent from the other states in the union. The EU had a similar beginning. It took a long time for a federation to emerge, but now it can be safely said that there is a certainty to the creation of a union.
The EU, up until recently, could freely be considered a confederation. For the most part, each EU member state is sovereign. They can raise their own army, as one major point. They have independent governments who have an autonomous governmental structure that is able to deal with its internal affairs independently from other member states. There are Europhiles and Eurocrats (as in the Republican and Democrat parties in the US). One side of the spectrum advocates more power to Brussels, the other side is for more decentralized power. The list of similarities keeps on going. You can most likely fill it in yourself if you remember the history of the US and follow the development of the EU governmental structure.
The Lisbon treaty creates a single EU President. No longer will there be a rotation between the member states for the position of the EU President. There will be implemented a majority voting system that will allow the states to choose the leader. This, in itself, is centralizing more power in Brussels. Europhiles, such as Vaclav Klaus, have reason to stand firm because this directly goes against their belief that EU member states need to be more sovereign. The creation of a single EU President will allow for more power to be gathered in Brussels and will decrease, in the long run, the sovereignty of EU member states’ internal governments.
The most interesting, and probably even more important point of the Lisbon Treaty is the creation of a single post for a representative for foreign affairs. The first purpose of this point is self evident – it gives the EU a single voice on the international level and will allow Europe to be represented as a single political body.
In the long run, there will no longer be deal making between France and China, for example. There will be deals between Europe and China. This does have benefits. All EU member states’ interests will be considered in international affairs. However, if there is a deal that benefits France alone and does not really concern the other countries in that it does not carry any externalities with it, the potential deal will be harmful to France and slow down the process of international bargaining. The foreign minister needs to answer to a higher authority – that authority is the newly created EU President post. In essence, the consolidation of the power to represent the EU on the international level in one post reaffirms and gives more power to Brussels.
The last point, about majority voting, allows EU member states to be proportionally represented. This makes sense, but there also needs a body created that will be an evenly representational legislative institution – a bicameral system. Currently, there is the European parliament. This Lisbon Treaty will decrease the number of representatives and provide proportional representation. As I mentioned in the beginning, the EU follows a path similar to the US.
The United States had some states that wanted to have a proportional representation, while others, the smaller ones, wanted equal representation in the legislative body. The end result was the creation of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the US. The EU, most likely, will have the same waiting for it in the future.
The purpose of this article is to show how the EU is becoming increasingly like the United States in terms of it government’s organization. The structure looks more and more alike and this process seems to be a rule when countries or sovereign states pool together to create a single body. It will be interesting to see the effects of the Lisbon Treaty.
From what can be seen right now, it looks like the EU will be represented as a single union in the international arena. Maybe not in the UN, but as a single entity when conducting foreign policies with Russia, Ukraine, United States, and others. The Lisbon Treaty aims to bring more power to the EU Council. What will come of it? We’ll just have to wait and see. To have a probable picture – open the US history book and refresh your memory on the development of the US government.