Some had almost given up hope of ever seeing this day come, but the Lisbon Treaty indeed entered into force on this 1 December. Eight years after the declaration at the Laeken European Council convening the Convention on the Future of Europe, the starting point of the Constitutional Treaty, the Union’s institutional reform is finally being brought to conclusion. And it was not easy. After the dual French and Dutch rejection of the constitution, a new treaty was written and approved in Lisbon, only to be rejected in turn by Ireland and left in limbo by the Czech Republic before finally being ratified by all the member states.

The text now in place puts the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on an equal footing in all areas of Community competence, increases the use of qualified majority voting as a way of improving effectiveness, establishes a permanent European Council presidency, gives a greater say to national parliaments, and so on. The EU will also be able to show the rest of the world that it does more than deal with internal mechanics, that it is concentrating on the challenges of the future. Institutional talks may nevertheless come back up quickly because not all the treaty provisions will apply from 1 December. Some will take months or even years to be implemented.

The treaty is available at europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/full_text/index_en.htm