Can someone please explain to me in basic terms what the Treaty of Lisbon is?

Question

Can someone please explain to me in basic terms what the Treaty of Lisbon is?

Answer 1

It's the European Constitution (again) in a slightly different form.  

Which part of NO are these politicians having a problem with ?

Answer 2

Its not "complicated" . Its available in every language spoken in the EU, even one the knee-jerk gain-sayers can understand.

Perhaps if they bothered to actually read and understand it, they'd be a little better informed.

Answer 3

The Lisbon Treaty was an attempt by the political elite of the EU to force through a European Constition against the will of the people.

They did not reckon with the Irish - those clever Celts beyond the Celtic sea who dominate the Western Edge of Europe and who's ancestry goes back over 15,000 years and where the oldest house in the world remains as good today as it was when built by the Irish firm who built it.

The Lisbon Treaty is dead in the water - shot to ribbons by the Irisih voters who have made their NO as big and loud as they possibly can.

Yet still the political elite of the EU those gravy train pigs with their snouts stuck in our trough of wonga, will not accept NO and demand that the people of Ireland go back to the poll and keep on voting until they get it right - a YES vote.

It's not going to happen.

Already our own totally out of touch UK.gov is starting the process of ratification of this dead rag of paper which no one wants and which was blown up by the Dutch and the French a year or so back.

Hello - can you hear me?  NO, NO, NO AND NO = NO.

Answer 4

It's the successor to the botched European Constitutional Treaty.  Its main task is to overwrite all the previous main treaties establishing the European Communities (Treaties of Paris,1952; Rome, 1957; and the Single European Act, 1986) and the European Union (Maastricht, 1993; Amsterdam, 1998; and Nice, 2001).

So, instead of people having to refer back to previous treaties to find out how Nice amended such and such an article which in turn amended such and such a treaty, they can look in one place.

Be warned though - people accuse the Lisbon Treaty of being 'essentially the same' as the Constitutional Treaty - but then, the vast bulk of both dealt with stuff which had already been established all the other treaties we'd already been living with.

Additionally it makes some new innovations.  It established a Foreign Minister, yes - but this is the amalgamation of two already existing posts into one job - saving money, bureaucracy, and making it easier for people to know who to call when they want to call Europe.  What's unfortunate is the name.

It does not establish a 'President of Europe'.  What it does is amend the mechanism for appointing the President of the European Council, and the tenure of that office.  Currently, it rotates through the Member States in alphabetical order in 6-month terms.  This is both unwieldy (27 members means it takes about a decade before a country becomes President again), and unstable (6 month tenures are FAR too short for any meaningful work to be pursued).  Lisbon changes this to being elected from the Governments of the States, and lasting for two and a half years.

What else?  Oh yes.  Lisbon reduces the size of the European Commission - the 'government' of the EU.  Currently, every State has one Commissioner, and the biggest four (Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom), have an additional one on top.  This means the College of Commissioners is 31 people strong.  Hugely unwielldy.  It's a task to find them work to do.  Lisbon would reduce this to a set number (15 I believe), and the Commissioners would rotate through the countries.  The Big Four would also lose their extra Commissioner.

In addition, Lisbon establishes the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, a kind of Bill of Rights for Europe.

It also extends Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) into more areas of decisionmaking, meaning that national vetos are use in less areas.

There may be other bits, but that's what I can remember.

Answer 5

It's a form of constitution moving the E.U into a more centralised organisation. It gives trade laws making it easier for the economies of all member countries to be moved in similar directions, focused more on the people of all Europe rather than the individual countries. It also creates an 'EU president' and 'secretary of state' for when Europe has to act as a single entity.

Some think it's good because it moves the EU closer to being seen as a single entity, and we are, after all, better together than apart. It will produce great economic benefits, hopefully moving the eastern Europe up to the west's level. It will give all members much greater political power. It's like moving from the power of Wales to the Power of all Europe.

Some think it's bad because it will decrease national sovereignty, and the individual nation's power to govenr themselves.

Trying to be unbiased above, but i'm obviously pro-EU.

Answer 6

A highly complicated peace of confusing legislation that will open the Pandora's box known as the EU, enter at your peril suffer at your leisure a bloody big mistake.

Answer 7

It is the newest try at an EU Constitution. It basically sets up codified trade laws for all members as a way to stimulate the economies of all members. It also establishes a head of State, or EU "President," as well as a State diplomat, or EU "Secretary of State." It essentially gives more power to the EU at the expense of the member States' sovereignty.

Answer 8

It is an attempt to simplify some of the rules of the EC constitution.

Answer 9

No, but I know a websit that can.

Try this link       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_L...