From Lisbon to Malta
The new EU treaty is be known as The Lisbon Treaty and will enter into force in 2009 following ratification by all 27 EU states. Malta will ratify the treaty through a resolution to be approved by Parliament. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has not yet...
The new EU treaty is be known as The Lisbon Treaty and will enter into force in 2009 following ratification by all 27 EU states. Malta will ratify the treaty through a resolution to be approved by Parliament. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has not yet set a date on when the resolution will be discussed in Parliament but it will probably be left to a new legislature after the general election.
Why a new treaty?
The rules and institutions of the EU needed updating to take account of the accession of 12 countries since 2004. Under the existing arrangements, no more countries can join the bloc, even if countries like Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey are waiting in the wings.
Most countries believe that decision-making processes have become too cumbersome. The Lisbon Treaty will provide for a more efficient Union capable of absorbing new member states.
No Constitution
The new treaty is a more modest charter when compared with the previously hammered-out Constitution. It amends previous EU treaty rulebooks, and drops some of the symbolic elements of the Constitution such as formally recognising the EU flag and anthem.
Originally, the Constitution was agreed by EU leaders in 2004 as a way of modernising the EU but was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005. Malta had also ratified the constitution by a historic unanimous parliamentary vote.
Charter of fundamental rights
A 50-article charter contains an exhaustive list of well-established rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, but also includes the right to shelter, education, collective labour bargaining and fair working conditions. It will be legally binding on 25 of the 27 EU members. The UK and Poland obtained an opt-out.
European Parliament
Proposed changes to the EU Parliament foresee the number of members dropping from the current 785 to 750, which would mean fewer seats for 17 of the 27 EU member states. Malta will get an additional seat boosting its number of MEPs to six from the next EP election to be held in mid-2009 bringing it on a par with Cyprus, Luxembourg and Estonia.
EU Council
The treaty will mean the EU can take decisions by majority rather than unanimous voting in 50 new areas, including judicial and police co-operation, education and economic policy. The UK and Ireland obtained opt-outs in judicial and police areas. Unanimity is still required in foreign and defence policy, social security, taxation and culture.
However, the new treaty will introduce a new voting procedure in the Council for legislation which does not require unanimous decisions.
This so-called qualified majority is reached when a majority of all member countries (55 per cent) who represent a majority of all citizens (65 per cent) vote in favour of the proposal.
When the Council is not acting on a proposal of the Commission, the necessary majority of all member countries is increased to 72 per cent while the population requirement stays the same.
To block legislation, at least four countries have to oppose the proposal.
Foreign affairs
The EU will start being represented on the international level through a representative for foreign affairs taking the place of the current two post-system divided between the high representative for foreign and security policy (Javier Solana) and Commissioner for external affairs (Benita Ferrero Waldner).
This representative will also be nominated as vice president of the European Commission.
EU President
A president will be chosen by leaders for a maximum five-year term to chair summits, facilitate cohesion and consensus and represent the EU abroad.
This will replace the current system in which EU leaders rotate into the president's post every six months. However, member states will still get a chance to preside over the EU Councils at ministerial level for six months on a rotation basis. Malta will have its turn between January and June 2017.
Smaller European Commission
The EU executive officials will be trimmed from the current 27 members to 17. Commissioners will be selected on a rotation system among the states, and will sit for five-year terms. Malta currently has the right to appoint a commissioner but this will stop from 2014 onwards. The same applies to all the other member states irrespective of their size.
Richard Cachia Caruana - Permanent Representative to the EU
Since 2003, the EU has focused a considerable part of its energies on its internal structures. A convention which included representatives of national parliaments and governments was followed by an InterGovernmental Conference, which agreed on a draft Constitutional Treaty in 2004.
This Treaty, however, could not be ratified by two EU founder members, France and the Netherlands, in 2005. Last week's political agreement on a replacement Reform Treaty has hopefully brought the debate on how the EU was to recover from the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, closer to its end. The Treaty had been unanimously ratified by the Maltese Parliament in 2005 because Malta believed that all of its interests were safeguarded by that text.
All the elements of specific interest to Malta have been retained in the text of the Reform Treaty agreed upon in Lisbon, including Malta's sixth seat in the European Parliament.
Following its ratification, the Lisbon Treaty will have the effect of strengthening both Europe and the individual member states by allowing for more flexibility in decision making at the European level.
Assuming this Reform Treaty is ratified, the EU will be able to turn its full attention on those issues that are of most interest to its citizens: the creation of more and better jobs, the strengthening of the European economy and increased cooperation on issues related to police work, such as illegal immigration. When the Reform Treaty is in force it will also allow the EU to have a clearer voice on the world stage.
Member states are expected to ratify the Treaty by the end of 2008 in order for the new institutional arrangements to come into effect in 2009 and for the EU to finally move on.
Dr George Vella - MLP spokesman for EU affairs
Agreement on the Reform Treaty in Lisbon brings to an end almost a decade of political and diplomatic wrangling on choosing the best legal instrument with which to make the EU move forwards most efficiently.
The Lisbon agreement has put to rest any hopes 'federalists' had of ever seeing a Federal Europe with a written Constitution. This agreement is practically a carbon copy of the rejected Constitutional Treaty, short of all trappings of a 'constitutional' nature, and rehashed to have a different presentation, more appealing to the French and the Dutch who had ditched it when it came up for ratification.
Furthermore, the Lisbon Summit itself was an excellent exercise in 'political appeasement', at the end of which everyone was satisfied, especially the British who got their 'social charter' opt out, and the Poles who got their asked for 'postponements'.
Following ratification, the EU can now concentrate on real life challenges such as globalisation, climate change, energy supply, employment and European Security.
Malta through this treaty is now assured of a sixth seat in the European Parliament come the next Parliamentary elections. As from 2014, however, a rotation system of appointing Commissioners to a 'reduced' commission of 17 members, applicable to all member states, could see Malta without a commissioner for some periods of time.
Provisions for 'majority' and 'double majority' voting in certain areas, in this Lisbon Treaty, are the same as those provided for in the now defunct Constitutional Treaty.