The Lisbon Reform Treaty: Internal and External Implications

Conference in Jerusalem with participation of the C·A·P

17.07.2008 · C·A·P

In the aftermath of the rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon in the Irish referendum, the Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration (IASEI) jointly with the Czech Association for European Studies (ČAES) organised a conference on "The Lisbon Reform Treaty: Internal and External Implications". The conference took place at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on 13/14 July 2008.

The more than 30 contributors analysed the reforms of the Treaty of Lisbon from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on its normative, institutional, constitutional, legal, economic, and socio-political dimensions. A selected number of papers presented at the conference will be published in a special issue of the European Journal of Law Reform.

Sarah Seeger, Research Fellow at the Center for Applied Policy Research (C·A·P), elaborated in her presentation "From Referendum Euphoria to Referendum Phobia" how EU member states framed their decision on the ratification procedure of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe in comparison to the Treaty of Lisbon. Whereas ten EU member states announced to hold a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, all member states except of Ireland where a referendum is legally required decided to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon via the parliamentary procedure only – even if it is widely asserted that the new treaty contains crucial elements of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. In the light of the debate about the democratic deficit of the EU and the search for ways to enhance legitimacy and citizens’ acceptance of the EU, this is challenging. As the contentious debates in some member states on the way of ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon show, credibility of EU politics is at stake. This might backfire at a later stage with people refusing their support for further deepening and widening the European Union.

PDF-Downloads

Sarah Seeger: From Referendum Euphoria to Referendum Phobia – How EU Member States Framed Their Decision on the Ratification Procedure of the Constitutional Treaty in Comparison to the Treaty of Lisbon

Conference Program

Weitere Links zum Thema

Vertrag von Lissabon: Probleme sind mit irischer Entscheidung nicht gelöst Statement von Sarah Seeger 03.10.2009 · Pravda (Slowakei)

Vor der Abstimmung: Die Zukunft des Vertrags von Lissabon Interview mit Sarah Seeger 02.10.2009 · Radio M 94,5

Getöse um Europa Erste Lesung des Begleitgesetzes zum Lissabonvertrag - Interview mit Werner Weidenfeld 26.08.2009 · SR2 KulturRadio - Bilanz am Mittag

"Europa in der Zwangsjacke" Immer mehr Kritik am Karlsruher Lissabon-Urteil - mit einem Statement von Sarah Seeger 06.07.2009 · Süddeutsche Zeitung

"Spagat-Urteil" zu Europa? Bundesverfassungsgericht entscheidet über Lissabon-Vertrag - heute.de im Gespräch mit Werner Weidenfeld 30.06.2009 · ZDF Online