ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book tries to answer our original puzzle: did the Lisbon Treaty really live up to its own preamble. It contains the problems of polity-building were highlighted by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as Blasi points. The Treaty also introduced the citizens' initiative, whereby a million citizens from at least one quarter of the member states may invite the Commission to present an initiative on a specific issue within the power of the Commission. The Lisbon Treaty has strengthened the federal character already present in the Nice-EU, both by adding new policy-areas to the area already covered by the Ordinary Legislative Procedure. A case is building up for parliamentarianism in the European Union, basing the Commission on a majority in the European Parliament, to balance the heads of state in the European Council.
