EU LEADERS SIGN LANDMARK TREATY MEANT TO EASE DECISION-MAKING

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.12.2007 19:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Union leaders have signed a treaty in the
Portuguese capital, Lisbon, that is expected to greatly alter the way
the 27-nation body operates. The treaty creates an EU president and a
more powerful foreign policy chief. The document, signed at a ceremony
at the city’s historic Jeronimos Monastery, also scraps veto powers
in many policy areas. It is a replacement for the EU constitution,
which was abandoned following French and Dutch opposition. EU leaders
insist that the two texts are in no way equivalent. But the Lisbon
treaty incorporates some of the draft constitution’s key reforms,
and several governments face domestic pressure over the document.

Ireland is the only country planning to hold a referendum, but most
voters there seem either undecided or indifferent. Parliaments in
Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark are also expected to give a
turbulent reception to the 250-page text. However, Germany, France
and Poland have pledged to be among the first to ratify it, so that
the new reforms can come into force in 2009 as planned.

The treaty is a slimmed-down version of the European constitution,
with a more modest name and without any reference to EU symbols such
as the flag and anthem.

It is meant to ease decision-making, by scrapping national vetoes in
some 50 policy areas, including sensitive ones such as police and
judicial co-operation. There will also be a foreign policy chief,
controlling a big budget and thousands of diplomats and officials,
and a permanent EU president appointed for up to five years.

But some already fear that instead of giving Europe a strong single
voice in the world, the new posts will only generate more rivalry,
BBC reports.