The Lisbon Treaty and the Eu’s Institutional System

Abstract

The European Union is in a constant evolution after the changes produced by the adoption of the Treaty of Maastricht in its founding rules. The six intergovernmental conferences that have been organized until 2007 produced a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity with respect to the EU strategies for the future. The last intergovernmental conference has made significant changes in the institutional structure of the Union and has finished with the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon, which is applied since 2009, after the end of the ratification process by all the Member States130. The objective of this study is to consider both the position of the Treaty related to the Functioning of the European Union, as a "Reform Treaty", and also the changes brought in the institutional system of the EU, especially in the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. To accomplish this task we made reference both to the provisions of the Treaty on the European Union and to the ones of the "reform treaty", and also to the relationship that is established between these two. Our main sources of reference were the consolidated versions of the treaties of the European Union.