ABSTRACT

It took nearly a decade between the adoption of the Treaty of Nice in 2000 and the subsequent decision to have yet another look at the treaty framework of the European Union (EU) at the Laeken meeting of the European Council in 2001 until the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009. The treaty is the final result of a prolonged search for a more efficient and democratic Union as well as a Union that should be more coherent in its external relations and foreign policies. It is time to take a look – even if preliminary – at the outcome from the perspectives of the declared goals of efficiency, democracy and coherence. How significant is the treaty?