Treaties of the European Union

Treaties of the European Union
Front page of an official document containing the consolidated treaties and documents which comprise the EU constitution
Location	Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Purpose	Establishing the laws and principles under which the European Union is governed

The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives. The EU can only act within the competences granted to it through these treaties and amendment to the treaties requires the agreement and ratification (according to their national procedures) of every single signatory.

There are two core functional treaties that lay out how the EU operates and a number of satellite treaties which are interconnected with them. The treaties have been repeatedly amended by other treaties over the 60 years since they first began. The modern amended versions are known as the "consolidated treaties".

Content

The two principal treaties on which the EU is based are the Treaty on European Union (TEU; Maastricht Treaty, effective since 1993) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU; Treaty of Rome, effective since 1958). These main treaties (plus their attached protocols and declarations) have been altered by amending treaties at least once a decade since they each came into force, the latest being the Treaty of Lisbon which came into force in 2009. Lisbon also made the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding, though that is not a treaty per se. The troubled ratification of Lisbon has meant there is little climate for further reform in the next few years beyond accession treaties, which merely allow a new state to join.

Treaty on European Union

Following the preamble the treaty text is divided into six parts.

Title 1, Common Provisions

The first deals with common provisions. Article 1 establishes the European Union on the basis of the European Community and lays out the legal value of the treaties. The second article states that the EU is "founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities." The member states share a "society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail".

Article 3 then states the aims of the EU in six points. The first is simply to promote peace, European values and its citizen's well-being. The second relates to free movement with external border controls are in place. Point 3 deals with the internal market. Point 4 establishes the euro. Point 5 states the EU shall promote its values, contribute to eradicating poverty, observe human rights and respect the charter of the United Nations. The final sixth point states that the EU shall pursue these objectives by "appropriate means" according with its competences given in the treaties.

Article 4 relates to member states' sovereignty and obligations. Article 5 sets out the principles of conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality with respect to the limits of its powers. Article 6 binds the EU to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 7 deals with the suspension of a member state and article 8 deals with establishing close relations with neighbouring states.

Title 2, Provisions on democratic principles

Article 9 establishes the equality of national citizens and citizenship of the European Union. Article 10 declares that the EU is founded in representative democracy and that decisions must be taken as closely as possible to citizens. It makes reference to European political parties and how citizens are represented: directly in the Parliament and by their governments in the Council and European Council - accountable to national parliaments. Article 11 establishes government transparency, declares that broad consultations must be made and introduces provision for a petition where at least 1 million citizens may petition the Commission to legislate on a matter. Article 12 gives national parliaments limited involvement in the legislative process.

Title 3, Provisions on the institutions

Article 13 establishes the institutions in the following order and under the following names: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors. it obliges co-operation between these and limits their competencies to the powers within the treaties.

Article 14 deals with the workings of Parliament and its election, article 15 with the European Council and its president, article 16 with the Council and its configurations and article 17 with the Commission and its appointment. Article 18 establishes the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and article 19 establishes the Court of Justice.

Title 4, Provisions on enhanced cooperations

Title 4 has only one article which allows a limited number of member states to co-operate within the EU if others are blocking integration in that field.

Title 5, General provisions on the Union's external action and specific provisions on the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Chapter 1 of this title includes articles 21 and 22. Article 21 deals with the principles that outline EU foreign policy; including compliance with the UN charter, promoting global trade, humanitarian support and global governance. Article 22 gives the European Council, acting unanimously, control over defining the EU's foreign policy.

Chapter 2 is further divided into sections. The first, common provisions, details the guidelines and functioning of the EU's foreign policy, including establishment of the European External Action Service and member state's responsibilities. Section 2, articles 42 to 46, deal with military cooperation (including mutual defence).

Title 6, Final provisions

Article 47 establishes a legal personality for the EU. Article 48 deals with the method of treaty amendment; specifically the ordinary and simplified revision procedures. Article 49 deals with applications to join the EU and article 50 with withdrawal. Article 51 deals with the protocols attached to the treaties and article 52 with the geographic application of the treaty. Article 53 states the treaty is in force for an unlimited period, article 54 deals with ratification and 55 with the different language versions of the treaties.

Treaty on the functioning of the European Union

The Treaty on the functioning of the European Union goes into deeper detail on the role, policies and operation of the EU. It is split into seven parts;

Part 1, Principles

In principles, article 1 establishes the basis of the treaty and its legal value. Articles 2 to 6 outline the competencies of the EU according to the level of powers accorded in each area. Articles 7 to 14 set out social principles, articles 15 and 16 set out public access to documents and meetings and article 17 states that the EU shall respect the status of churches under national law.

Part 2, Non-discrimination and citizenship of the Union

The second part begins with article 18 which outlaws, within the limitations of the treaties, discrimination on the basis of nationality. Article 19 states the EU will "combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation". Articles 20 to 24 establishes EU citizenship and accords rights to it; to free movement, consular protection from other states, vote and stand in local and European elections, right to petition Parliament and the European Ombudsman and to contact and receive a reply from EU institutions in their own language. Article 25 requires the Commission to report on the implementation of these rights every three years.

Part 3, Union policies and internal actions

Part 3 on policies and actions is divided by area into the following titles: the internal market; the free movement of goods, including the customs union; agriculture and fisheries; free movement of people, services and capital; the area of freedom, justice and security, including police and justice co-operation; transport policy; competition, taxation and harmonisation of regulations (note Article 101 and Article 102); economic and monetary policy, including articles on the euro; employment policy; the European Social Fund; education, vocational training, youth and sport policies; cultural policy; public health; consumer protection; Trans-European Networks; industrial policy; economic, social and territorial cohesion (reducing disparities in development); research and development and space policy; environmental policy; energy policy; tourism; civil protection; and administrative co-operation.

Part 4, Association of the overseas countries and territories

Part 4 deals with association of overseas territories. Article 198 sets the objective of association as promoting the economic and social development of those associated territories as listed in annex 2. The following articles elaborate on the form of association such as customs duties.

Part 5, External action by the Union

Part 5 deals with EU foreign policy. Article 205 states that external actions must be in accordance with the principles laid out in Chapter 1 Title 5 of the Treaty on European Union. Article 206 and 207 establish the common commercial (external trade) policy of the EU. Articles 208 to 214 deal with cooperation on development and humanitarian aid for third countries. Article 215 deals with sanctions while articles 216 to 219 deal with procedures for establishing international treaties with third countries. Article 220 instructs the High Representative and Commission to engage in appropriate cooperation with other international organisations and article 221 establishes the EU delegations. Article 222, the Solidarity clause states that members shall come to the aid of a fellow member who is subject to a terrorist attack, natural disaster or man-made disaster. This includes the use of military force.

Part 6, Institutional and financial provisions

Part 6 elaborates on the institutional provisions in the Treaty on European Union. As well as elaborating on the structures, articles 288 to 299 outline the forms of legislative acts and procedures of the EU. Articles 300 to 309 establish the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank. Articles 310 to 325 outline the EU budget. Finally, articles 326 to 334 establishes provision for enhanced co-operation.

Part 7, General and final provisions

Part 7 deals with final legal points, such as territorial and temporal application, the seat of institutions (to be decided by member states, but this is enacted by a protocol attached to the treaties), immunities and the effect on treaties signed before 1958 or the date of accession.

Protocols, annexes and declarations

There are 37 protocols, 2 annexes and 65 declarations that are attached to the treaties to elaborate details, often in connection with a single country, without being in the full legal text.

Protocols;

• 1: on the role of National Parliaments in the European Union
• 2: on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality
• 3: on the statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union
• 4: on the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank
• 5: on the statute of the European Investment Bank
• 6: on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies, offices, agencies and departments of the European Union
• 7: on the privileges and immunities of the European Union
• 8: relating to Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union on the accession of the Union to the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
• 9: on the decision of the Council relating to the implementation of Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 238(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union between 1 November 2014 and 31 March 2017 on the one hand, and as from 1 April 2017 on the other
• 10: on permanent structured cooperation established by Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union
• 11: on Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union
• 12: on the excessive deficit procedure
• 13: on the convergence criteria
• 14: on the Euro Group
• 15: on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• 16: on certain provisions relating to Denmark
• 17: on Denmark
• 18: on France
• 19: on the Schengen acquis integrated into the framework of the European Union
• 20: on the application of certain aspects of Article 26 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to the United Kingdom and to Ireland
• 21: on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice
• 22: on the position of Denmark
• 23: on external relations of the Member States with regard to the crossing of external borders
• 24: on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union
• 25: on the exercise of shared competence
• 26: on services of general interest
• 27: on the internal market and competition
• 28: on economic, social and territorial cohesion
• 29: on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States
• 30: on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to Poland and to the United Kingdom
• 31: concerning imports into the European Union of petroleum products refined in the Netherlands Antilles
• 32: on the acquisition of property in Denmark
• 33: concerning Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
• 34: on special arrangements for Greenland
• 35: on Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution of Ireland

• 36: on transitional provisions
• 37: on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC treaty and on the Research fund for Coal and Steel

Annexes

• Annex I lists agricultural and marine produce covered by the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy.
• Annex II lists the overseas countries and territories associated with the EU.

Declarations

There are 65 declarations attached to the EU treaties. As examples, these include the following. Declaration 1 affirms that the charter, gaining legal force, reaffirms rights under the European Convention and does not allow the EU to act beyond its conferred competencies. Declaration 4 allocates an extra MEP to Italy. Declaration 7 outlines Council voting procedures to become active after 2014. Declaration 17 asserts the primacy of EU law. Declaration 27 reasserts that holding a legal personality does not entitle the EU to act beyond its competencies. Declaration 43 allows Mayotte to change to the status of "outermost region".

Euratom

As well as the two main treaties, their protocols and the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the Treaty Establishing a European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) is still in force as a separate treaty.

Title one outlines the tasks of Euratom. Title two contains the core of the treaty on how cooperation in the field is to take place. Title three outlines institutional provisions and has largely been subsumed by the European Union treaties. Title four is on financial provisions and title five on the general and title six is on final provisions.

Amendment and ratification

European Union

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the European Union

Parliament President Martin Schulz Largest groups; Joseph Daul: EPP María Badía (Interim): S&D 7th session MEPs (736) 2009-14 term Bureau Vice Presidents Quaestor Conference Legislative procedure

Council of Ministers Presidency Denmark Configurations General Foreign Economic Euro Legislative procedure Voting Secretariat Secretary-General Uwe Corsepius COREPER

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy Parties List of meetings

Commission Barroso Comm. President José M. Barroso Vice Presidents Catherine Ashton Viviane Reding Joaquín Almunia Siim Kallas Neelie Kroes Antonio Tajani Maroš Šefčovič Commissioners Civil Service Secretary-General Catherine Day

Court of Justice Court of Justice General Court Civil Service Tribunal Members Rulings

Other institutions Central Bank President ESCB Euro EMU Eurozone Court of Auditors Budget OLAF Investment Bank CoR EESC Ombudsman Other bodies Agencies National parliaments

Policies and issues Budget Four Freedoms Economic area Single market Area of FS&J Schengen Policies Agricultural Energy Fisheries Regional Citizenship Identity Pro-Europeanism Euroscepticism Integration Supranationalism Federalism U.S.E. Multi-speed Opt-outs Enhanced co-op Withdrawal

Foreign relations High Representative Catherine Ashton Ext. Action Service Foreign Policy Defence Policy Enlargement

Elections 1979, 1984, 1989 1994, 1999, 2004 2009 (last election) 2014 (next election) Political parties Constituencies Referendums

Law Acquis Primacy Subsidiarity Treaties Fundamental Rights Membership

The treaties can be changed in three different ways. The ordinary revision procedure is essentially the traditional method by which the treaties have been amended and involves holding a full inter-governmental conference. The simplified revision procedure was established by the Treaty of Lisbon and only allows for changes which do not increase the power of the EU. While using the passerelle clause does involve amending the treaties, as such, it does allow for a change of legislative procedure in certain circumstances.

The ordinary revision procedure for amending treaties requires proposals from an institution to be lodged with the European Council. The President of the European Council can then either call a European Convention (composed of national governments, national parliamentarians, MEPs and representatives from the Commission) to draft the changes or draft the proposals in the European Council itself if the change is minor. They then proceed with an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which agrees the treaty which is then signed by all the national leaders and ratified by each state.

While this is the procedure that has been use for all treaties prior to the Lisbon Treaty, an actual European Convention (essentially, a constitutional convention) has only been called twice. First in the drafting of the Charter of Fundamental Rights with the European Convention of 1999–2000. Second with the Convention on the Future of Europe which drafted the Constitutional Treaty (which then formed the basis of the Lisbon Treaty). Previously, treaties had been drafted by civil servants.

The simplified revision procedure, which applies only to part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and cannot increase the powers of the EU, sees changes simply agreed in the European Council by a decision before being ratified by each state. The amendments to protocol 36 and article 136 (both being ratified as of August 2011) both make use of the simplified revision procedure due to the small scope of their changes.

The treaties also contain a passerelle clause which allows the European Council to unanimously agree to change the applicable voting procedure for an area of legislation from a special legislative procedure to the ordinary legislative procedure, provided that no national parliament objects. This procedure cannot be used for area which have defence implication.

Any reform to the legal basis of the EU must be ratified according to the procedures in each member state. All states are required to ratify it and lodge the instruments of ratification with the Government of Italy before the treaty can come into force in any respect. In some states, such as Ireland this is usually a referendum as any change to that state's constitution requires one. In others, such as Germany, referendums are constitutionally banned and the ratification must take place in its national parliament.

On some occasions, a state has failed to get a treaty passed by its public in a referendum. In the cases of Ireland and Denmark a second referendum was held after a number of concessions were granted. However in the case of France and the Netherlands, the treaty was abandoned in favour of a treaty that would not prompt a referendum. In the case of Norway, where the treaty was their accession treaty (hence, their membership), the treaty was also abandoned.

Treaties are also put before the European Parliament and while its vote is not binding, it is important; both the Belgian and Italian Parliaments said they would veto the Nice Treaty if the European Parliament did not approve it.

Ratified treaties

Signed In force Document

1948 1948 Brussels Treaty

1951 1952 Paris Treaty

1954 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty

1957 1958 Rome treaties

1965 1967 Merger Treaty

1975 N/A European Council conclusion

1985 1985 Schengen Treaty

1986 1987 Single European Act

1992 1993 Maastricht Treaty

1997 1999 Amsterdam Treaty

2001 2003 Nice Treaty

2007 2009 Lisbon Treaty

Three pillars of the European Union:

European Communities:

European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

Treaty expired in 2002

European Union (EU)

European Economic Community (EEC)

Schengen Rules

European Community (EC)

TREVI

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC)

European Political Cooperation (EPC)

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)

Unconsolidated bodies

Western European Union (WEU)

Treaty terminated in 2011

Legend for below table:   [Founding] - [Amending] - [Membership]

Treaty	Established/Amended	Signed in	Signed on	Effective from	Ceased
ECSC Treaty source text	European Coal and Steel Community	Paris, FR	01951-04-18 18 April 1951	01952-07-23 23 July 1952	02002-07-23 23 July 2002
Euratom Treaty source text	European Atomic Energy Community	Rome, IT	01957-03-25 25 March 1957	01958-01-01 1 January 1958	in force
EEC Treaty (Treaty of Rome) source text	European Economic Community	Rome, IT	01957-03-25 25 March 1957	01958-01-01 1 January 1958	in force
Netherlands Antilles Convention source text	OCT status for the Netherlands Antilles	Brussels, BE	01962-11-13 13 November 1962	01964-10-01 1 October 1964	in force
Merger Treaty	Amended Previous Executives of ECSC and EAEC combined with those of the EEC.	Brussels, BE	01965-04-08 8 April 1965	01967-07-01 1 July 1967	01999-05-01 1 May 1999
First Budgetary Treaty	Amended Previous Partial budgetary powers to Parliament	Luxembourg, LU	01970-04-22 22 April 1970	01971-01-01 1 January 1971	in force
Acts of Accession	Enlarged to Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom	Brussels, BE	01972-01-22 22 January 1972	01973-01-01 1 January 1973	in force
Second Budgetary Treaty	Amended Previous Greater budgetary powers to Parliament Established the Court of Auditors (see article for all changes).	Brussels, BE	01975-07-22 22 July 1975	01977-06-01 1 June 1977	in force
Act of Accession	Enlarged to Greece	Athens, GR	01979-05-28 28 May 1979	01981-01-01 1 January 1981	in force
Greenland Treatysource text	Withdrawal of Greenland	Brussels, BE	01984-03-13 13 March 1984	01985-01-01 1 January 1985	in force
Acts of Accession	Enlarged to Spain and Portugal	Madrid, ES Lisbon, PT	01985-06-12 12 June 1985	01986-01-01 1 January 1986	in force
Schengen Agreement	Established open borders	Schengen, LU	01985-06-14 14 June 1985	01995-03-26 26 March 1995	in force
Single European Act source text	Amended Previous Introduced the Single Market and European Political Cooperation	Luxembourg, LU The Hague, NL	01986-02-17 17 February 1986 01986-02-28 28 February 1986	01987-07-01 1 July 1987	in force
Treaty of Maastricht source text (Treaty on European Union)	European Union Amended Previous EEC became European Community pillar of EU. Intergovernmental pillars of CFSP and JHA established.	Maastricht, NL	01992-02-07 7 February 1992	01993-11-01 1 November 1993	in force
Acts of Accession	Enlarged to Austria, Finland and Sweden	Corfu, GR	01994-06-24 24 June 1994	01995-01-01 1 January 1995	in force
Treaty of Amsterdam source text	Amended Previous Introduced the High Representative, transferred powers from JHA pillar to EC and integrated the Schengen Agreement (see article for all changes).	Amsterdam, NL	01997-10-01 1 October 1997	01999-05-01 1 May 1999	in force
Treaty of Nice source text	Amended Previous Prepared the EU to cope with enlargement (see article for all changes).	Nice, FR	02001-02-26 26 February 2001	02003-02-01 1 February 2003	in force
Treaty of Accession 2003	Enlarged to Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia	Athens, GR	02003-04-16 16 April 2003	02004-05-01 1 May 2004	in force
Treaty of Accession 2005	Enlarged to Bulgaria and Romania	Luxembourg, LU	02005-04-13 13 April 2005	02007-01-01 1 January 2007	in force
Treaty of Lisbon source text	Amended Previous Created European Council President, enhanced foreign policy, abolished pillar system, expanded Parliament's powers and QMV, made Rights charter binding.	Lisbon, PT	02007-12-13 13 December 2007	02009-12-01 1 December 2009	in force
EP Protocolsource text	Amending Protocol 36 Appointed 18 new members of the EP until the 2014 election, who would have been elected in 2009 if the Treaty of Lisbon had been in force. No seats were abolished, so the number of the MEPs temporary increased to 754.	Brussels, BE	02010-06-23 23 June 2010	02011-12-01 1 December 2011	in force

Future treaties

As of February 2012, several treaties have been signed which are in the process of ratification. They include an accession treaty for Croatia and establishment of the European Stability Mechanism (including an amendment to Article 136 of the TFEU). Furthermore, the European Fiscal Compact, although formally not part of the European Union treaties, was negotiated between 25 of the 27 member states of the Union and has a specific provision to plan implementation within the European Union within 5 years. There are also expected treaties dealing with certain protocols promised during Lisbon negotiations.

Treaties undergoing signing/ratification
Treaty	Establishing/Amending	Signed in	Signed on	Ratification	Planned
European Council Decision amending Article 136 of the TFEUsource text	Amending Article 136	Brussels, BE	02011-03-25 25 March 2011	0 / 27	1 January 2013
Treaty of Accession 2011	Enlarging to Croatia	Brussels, BE	02011-12-09 9 December 2011	0 / 28	1 July 2013
Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)source text	European Stability Mechanism	Brussels, BE	02012-02-02 2 February 2012	0 / 17	1 July 2012
European Fiscal Compactsource text	Implementing fiscal rules	Brussels, BE	02012-03-02 2 March 2012	0 / 25	1 January 2013

Accession of Croatia

Main article: Treaty of Accession 2011

On 14 September 2011 the Treaty concerning the Accession of the Republic of Croatia was finalised and made public. It was signed on 9 December 2011 in Brussels and is planned to enter force on 1 July 2013. The treaty will need to be ratified by the current 27 member states and by Croatia; the latter voted yes to EU accession in a referendum on 22 January 2012. The treaty is 250 pages long and provides for amendments to the treaties to add Croatian representatives into EU institutions (including transitional provisions before new elections take place) and outlines Croatia's various financial contributions. The document does not include monitoring mechanism of Croatia by the European Commission to ensure continued reform, as was the case with Bulgaria and Romania. Ireland's guarantees and the Czech Republic's opt-outs (see below) were planned to be signed alongside the accession treaty, but as of March 2012, this had not occurred.

European Stability Mechanism and amendment of art.136 TFEU

Main article: European Stability Mechanism

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) treaty is as of March 2012, undergoing ratification. The ESM would replace the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) and is in response to the European sovereign debt crisis. After a version of 2011 turned out not to be substantial enough, the treaty was signed on 2 February 2012. It is planned to be ratified and enter force by mid 2012, when the EFSF and EFSM expire. An amendment to the TFEU was required to give it legal legitimacy (as it was feared Germany's constitutional court could strike it down)^{[citation needed]}. The treaty was concluded exclusively by Eurozone states, amongst others because the UK refused to participate in any fiscal integration. Further amendments may follow once the final shape of the eurozone's economic governance is decided.

The simple two-line TFEU treaty amendment was agreed by the European Council on 16 December 2010. The amendment reads: "The member states whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality." It is designed only to give basis to the bail out fund and calm the markets. The text is being inserted into Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as paragraph 3. With the amendment allowing for the ESM's creation, the "Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism" sets out the details of how the ESM would operate.

European Fiscal Compact

Main article: European Fiscal Compact

The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union was signed on 2 March 2012 by all members of the European Union except the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. It is planned to enter into force on 1 January 2013. A first draft of the fiscal compact treaty was circulated in mid-December 2011, which was followed by several others. The final draft was agreed on 30 January 2012, which was signed in March.

In late 2011, Germany pushed for a change in the EU treaties in order to streamline fiscal discipline in the eurozone to exit the 2008-2011 European sovereign debt crisis. Following opposition by British PM David Cameron to a revision of the EU treaties at the December 9, 2011 European Council, David Cameron, a separate treaty between all 25 EU members but the UK and the Czech republic was then envisaged, outside the formal EU institutions, as it had been with the first Schengen treaty in 1985.

Protocols

As a result of the various compromises during the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, two protocol are planned to be adopted. These protocols relate related to opt-outs and guarantees to Ireland and the Czech Republic in order to get support from their public and president respectively.

Ireland

Following the rejection of the treaty by the Irish electorate in 2008, a number of guarantees (on security and defence, ethical issues and tax) were given to the Irish in return for a second attempt. On the second attempt in 2009 the treaty was approved. Rather than repeat the ratification procedure, the guarantees were merely declarations with a promise to append them to the next treaty. A draft protocol to this effect has been proposed by the European Council and is currently under consideration by the European Parliament.

Czech Republic

Czech President Václav Klaus refused to complete ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon unless the Czech Republic was excluded from the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (as Poland and the United Kingdom had been with Protocol 30^(source)) fearing the Charter could be used by Germans expelled from the Eastern bloc after the Second World War. Thus the "Irish solution" (addition to the protocol on a later date) was used again to satisfy his demand. A draft protocol to this effect has been proposed by the European Council and is currently under consideration by the European Parliament.

Abandoned treaties

The European Constitution failed due to negative votes in two member states

Treaty instituting a European Defence Community.

Following on from the success of the Treaty of Paris, efforts were made to allow West Germany to rearm within the framework of a European military structure in the form of a European Defence Community. The treaty was signed by the six members on 27 May 1952 and the Common Assembly began drafting a treaty for a European Political Community to ensure democratic accountability of the new army, but this treaty was abandoned when the Defence Community treaty was rejected by the French National Assembly on 30 August 1954.

1973 and 1995 Acts of Accession of Norway

Norway has tried to join the European Communities/Union on two occasions, on both occasions a national referendum returned a negative result leading Norway to turn down membership. The first treaty was signed in Brussels on 22 January 1972 and the second in Corfu on 24 June 1994.

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (the European Constitution)

The European Constitution was a treaty that would have repealed and consolidated all previous overlapping treaties (except the Euratom treaty) into a single document. It also made changes to voting systems, simplified the structure of the EU and advanced co-operation in foreign policy. The treaty was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 and was due to come into force on 1 November 2006 if it was ratified by all member states. However, this did not occur, with France rejecting the document in a national referendum on 29 May 2005 and then the Netherlands in their own referendum on 1 June 2005. Although it had been ratified by a number of member states, following a "period of reflection", the constitution in that form was scrapped and replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon.

2011 European Stability Mechanism treaty

After the negotiations to amend Article 136 succeeded in March 2011, the leaders of the EU came to an agreement on a permanent stability fund for the eurozone called the European Stability Mechanism on 11 July 2011. It was decided that the ESM would have a size of 500 billion euros, by replacing the non-permanent European Financial Stability Fund and the European Financial Stability Mechanism. However, as the European sovereign debt crisis worsened, the leaders decided not to ratify the treaty as they planned several changes in the ESM, thus scrapping the original concept. The subsequent version of the ESM treaty was signed on 2 February 2012.

See also

• EU law

References

• P Craig and G de Búrca, EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th edn OUP 2008)

External links

• Constitution of the European Union
• Summary of EU treaties - Europa
• Full text of EU treaties - EUR-Lex (Europa)