EU UE: Lisbon Lissabon Lisboa Lisbonne Lisbona Lisboa

The Treaty of Lisbon as well as Lissabontraktaten, der Vertrag von Lissabon, Lissaboni leping, Tratado de Lisboa, Traité de Lisbonne, Trattato de Lisbona, Verdrag van Lissabon, Lissabonin sopimus, Lissabonfördraget and a few more are on the search list of people, who want to find a readable, consolidated version in their own language, before the treaty is ratified and has entered into force.

Spitefully, the Council of the European Union has declined to publish consolidations of the Lisbon Treaty, and the other EU institutions have acquiesced in this charade of openness and transparency, since the published language versions are incomprehensible on their own.

Luckily, the most important EU document since 2004 has been made available in a number of languages and versions, which I have tried to record on this blog. My latest general update is:

Consolidated Lisbon Treaty Update (16 February 2008)

There have been two later specific updates:

EU: Complete Dutch consolidated Lisbon Treaty (23 February 2008)

EU Lisbon Treaty: Ratification and consolidation in Finland (24 February 2008)

***

I am grateful for additional information on planned or new consolidated versions of the Lisbon Treaty.

***

Because of the constant demand, I am going to merge the latest updates to give you the information I currently have.

Let us remember that the European Union has 23 treaty and official languages. The intergovernmental conference itself professed its belief in linguistic diversity, and encouraged the translation of the treaties into regional and minority languages by the member state governments, but “forgot” to make available readable versions of the Reform Treaty in the treaty and official languages of the EU.

As far as I know, with the exception of a leaked French version from the European Parliament, none of the consolidations has been produced by the EU institutions, and only two directly by a government. The rest have been compiled by parliaments, think-tanks, NGOs and private citizens.

The nine or ten languages with consolidated versions published to date cover only parts of our community of 490 million citizens.

Here is an updated list of the language versions found this far (almost all in pdf format), with the languages mentioned in alphabetical order in English:


Danish

The EU information of the Danish parliament communicates actively. Some information is available in English, too. The consolidated Lisbon Treaty is an update.

Folketingets EU-Oplysning: Sammenskrevet udgave af udkastet til Lissabon-traktaten og det gaeldande traktatunderlag; Bind 1 Traktater, Bind 2 Protokoller og erklaeringer;
http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/emner/reformtraktat/reform/sammenskrevet/


***

Dutch

The DJ Nozem blog pointed me towards this new consolidation in Word format, compiled by René Barents and posted on the web site of the daily NRC Handelsblad.

René Barents: Geconsolideerde teksten van het Verdrag betreffende de Europese Unie en het Verdrag betreffende de werking van de Europese Unie zoals gewijzigd door het Verdrag van Lissabon
http://www.nrc.nl/redactie/Europa/verdraglissabon_barents.doc

I want to thank Anonymous who brought to our attention that the government of the Netherlands has published a complete Dutch version of the Treaty of Lisbon on the web pages of the Foreign Ministry,

www.minbuza.nl

The web pages offer us the TEU, TFEU, Euratom Treaty, the Protocols and the Final Act:

1. Verdrag betreffende de Europese Unie 2. Verdrag betreffende de werking van de Europese Unie (voorheen EG-Verdrag) 3. Verdrag tot oprichting van de Europese Gemeenschap voor Atoomenergie (Euratom) 4. Protocollen gehecht aan het Verdrag betreffende de Europese Unie, het Verdrag betreffende de werking van de Europese Unie en/of het Verdrag tot oprichting van de Europese Gemeenschap voor Atoomenergie 5. Slotakte bij het Verdrag van Lissabon, inclusief Verklaringen

***

English

IIEA

Peadar ó Broin at the Institute of International and European Affairs (Dublin, Ireland) has produced a complete updated consolidation of the amended treaties, including the protocols and annexes, in a format easy to read (pdf).

Treaty on European Union
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Annexes to the EU and FEU Treaties
Protocols to the EU and FEU Treaties and, where appropriate, to the EAEC Treaty

Go to http://www.iiea.com


Statewatch

Professor Steve Peers has painstakingly compiled an annotated version consisting of several files for the Statewatch Observatory on the EU Constitution and the Reform Treaty, where similarities and differences between the different reform stages are highlighted. Informative, if you know what you are looking for.

Go to http://www.statewatch.org


FCO

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office published a complete consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon. The ratification debate in the House of Commons is ongoing.

The FCO web pages on Britain in the EU contain both general information on the Reform Treaty and answers on specific questions in addition to the consolidation I just mentioned. For the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty, see Command Paper 7310 ‘Consolidated texts of the EU Treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon’:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/FCO_PDF_CM7310_ConsolidatedTreaties.pdf

The FCO also published Command Paper 7311 ‘A comparative table of the current EC and EU Treaties as amended by the treaty of Lisbon’, which briefly sets out the similarities and differences between the Lisbon Treaty and the other relevant Treaties article by article. Available through the Official Documents web page (as is Cm 7310 mentioned above):

http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/


Markus Walther

Markus Walther, a German student from Leipzig, who produced and published a German consolidated version of the EU Treaty of Lisbon on his web site, posted an English readable consolidated version as well (a preliminary document without protocols and charter).

Go to http://www.mwalther.net/europa/eulaw-lisbon-mwalther.pdf


Open Europe

Open Europe produced a consolidated version with the Treaty of Lisbon and the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe presented side by side for convenient comparison.

Open Europe: The Lisbon Treaty and the European Constitution: A side-by-side comparison; January 2008;

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/comparative.pdf


Constitreaty.com

The web site and accompanying blog at Constitreaty.com is an ongoing work to present the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty side by side for easy comparison, with highlighting and tracked changes facilitating the task.

When I checked a few moments ago, Parts I to III of the Constitution were available (with Part IV and the Final Act under construction). Try it out at:

http://www.constitreaty.com/


***

Finnish

Europe Information, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, has promised a consolidated version during the spring.

The government of Finland has now given a more precise publishing date, by mid April, to the promised consolidated versions of the Lisbon Reform Treaty, in Finnish and Swedish.

The consolidated Finnish language version of the Lisbon Treaty is going to be a real addition, whereas there is a complete Swedish version available from Sieps, the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies. (See Swedish.)


***

French

Europa-EU-Audience

The bilingual web site en.europa-eu-audience found two unofficial parallel versions, leaked from the European Parliament, of the amending treaties in French, side by side with the current ones:

http://europa-eu-audience.typepad.com/fr/files/EP_TCE_versus_TFU_Final.doc

http://europa-eu-audience.typepad.com/fr/files/EP_TUE_versus_TUE_final.doc


Assemblée nationale

Assemblée nationale : Rapport d’information sur les modifications apportées par le traité de Lisbonne au traité sur l’Union européenne et au traité instituant la Communauté européenne, par M. Axel Poniatowski ; No 439, 28 novembre 2007 ;

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/pdf/rap-info/i0439.pdf


Later, the French National Assembly has presented a consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon side by side with the current treaties. Look for Assemblée Nationale: Rapport d’information déposé par la Délégation de l’Assemblée Nationale pour l’Union Européenne, sur le traité de Lisbonne ; No 562, Tome 2, 8 janvier 2008 :

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/dossiers/traite_lisbonne_due_information.asp


Jean-Luc Sauron

Jean-Luc Sauron: Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne – Texte consolidé intégral des traités – Explications et commentaires ; Gualino éditeur, Paris 2008 ; 351 p. (Prix 20 €)

The book (pages 141 – 351) contains, in a handy format, consolidated versions of the amended Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Explanations relating to it as well as a modest Index.

In principle, the Treaty texts are based on a version from 30 October 2007, but footnotes take later modifications into account.


***


German

Markus Walther

Markus Walther: Das Primärrecht der Europäischen Union; Endfassung, Stand 18. Dezember 2007; (updated after signing)
http://www.mwalther.net/union.html


Klemens H. Fischer

The book “Der Vertrag von Lissabon – Text und Kommentar zum Europäischen Reformvertrag”, by Klemens H. Fischer (Nomos, Stämpfli Verlag and Verlag Österreich) describes the EU reform process and especially the IGC 2007 before it presents consolidated and annotated versions of the TEU and TFEU including protocols and declarations. The accompanying CD-Rom contains background material and three different consolidations of each treaty: with amendments highlighted and footnotes, with amendments highlighted and a neutral consolidated version.


***

Hungarian

Two sources reported that the Hungarian government has published a consolidation of the Lisbon Treaty, although was not able to verify it. But I encourage anyone with the linguistic and technical skills to search (and to report back).


***

Irish Gaelic

A consolidation in Irish Gaelic has been announced by the Institute of International and European Affairs, Dublin (but I have not been able to locate it).
Go to http://www.iiea.com

***

Portuguese

Peadar ó Broin reported on a version in Portuguese also, prepared by the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

http://www.eu2007.pt/NR/rdonlyres/1D96311C-F90D-4E97-B355-DFEA0DD1ABEA/0/TLconsolidado.pdf

Alternatively, you can link to the text via the website for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

http://www.mne.gov.pt/

Or you can link via the website for the Portuguese Presidency of 2007:

http://www.eu2007.pt/UE/vPT/Presidencia_Conselho/TratadoLisboa.htm


***

Spanish

Real Instituto Elcano offers a complete updated consolidation, with protocols and declarations, in Spanish, compiled by José Martín y Pérez de Nanclares and Mariola Urrea Corres. The former has written an introductory study.

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org


***

Swedish

Sieps – Svenska institutet för europapolitiska studier, the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, has published a complete consolidated Swedish language version of the Lisbon Treaty.

http://www.sieps.se

Sieps has new web pages dedicated to the Lisbon Treaty:

http://www.lissabonfordraget.se/


Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget - Konsoliderad version av EU:s fördrag (pdf)
Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget – Protokoll mm (pdf)


The publisher SNS Förlag has announced a handy pocket version of the Treaty of Lisbon in Swedish, to be published 29 February 2008. If the new publication follows the pattern of the previous pocket treaties by SNS, it will contain the bare treaty texts.

http://www.sns.se


***
We now know of 9 or 10 official EU languages covered out of 23.
Are there more consolidated versions the citizens of the European Union should be aware of?
I am most grateful, if you want to share your knowledge on the Treaty of Lisbon with me and other EU citizens: consolidated versions as well as books and resources, such as official documents from the member states’ governments and parliaments, scholarly assessments and popular literature, plus information on the ratification processes.


Ralf Grahn