Lisbon Treaty is the most democratic of all the EU treaties
Issued : Sunday 30 August, 2009
It reforms the EU institutions and it invites national parliaments to play an active role in the framing of policy and legislation.
Indeed the main purpose of the Treaty is to enable the enlarged European Union consisting of 27 Member States to function more effectively and more democratically.
The Lisbon Treaty gives:
1. The European Parliament increased powers of co-decision with the Council of Ministers. It gives the Parliament the right to approve the EU Budget and to elect the President of the Commission
2. The European Council becomes a formal institution of the EU for the first time under the Lisbon Treaty with a new office of President elected for renewable terms of 2½ years.
3. The Council of Ministers holds its meetings in public for the first time under the Lisbon rules. A new system of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) provides a fairer system for decision making. Every contested decision requires two voting stages: Approval by 55% of Member States and approval by 65% of the total population of the Member States.
4. Under the Lisbon Treaty every country will have a Commissioner and the Commission President will be elected by the European Parliament on a proposal of the Council. A new post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will focus the EU’s international role.
The most far-reaching democratic reforms under Lisbon will apply to the 27 National Parliaments of the Member States. The annual work programme for the EU must now be made available to all national parliaments as it is compiled.
All legislative proposals can be amended by National Parliaments or they can cause them to be withdrawn entirely if they consider that they offend the principle of subsidiarity. Separately, each National Parliament can appeal individually to the European Court of Justice if that Parliament is not satisfied with any legislative proposals.
Finally there is a new “Citizens Initiative” whereby one million citizens or more can initiate policies of their own. The Lisbon Treaty is essentially about addressing the Democratic Deficit in the EU at present. It is a fundamentally democratic treaty.
Cllr 
