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)
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I am grateful for additional information on planned or new consolidated versions of the Lisbon Treaty.
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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/
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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
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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/
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
Showing posts with label UE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UE. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Sunday, 17 February 2008
EU: TFEU Categories of Competence
For neat packaging and presentation you could look at the EU Law Blog posting “Reform Treaty: Taxonomy of Competence”,
http://eulaw.typepad.com/eulawblog/2008/01/reform-treaty-t.html –
taxonomy meaning a system of classification. Having offered you a succinct option, I feel less guilty about the rambling Sunday constitutional (with small ‘c’) I am going embark on concerning the different categories of EU competence, as presented in the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL).
Étienne de Poncins in “Vers une Constitution européenne" pointed out that Title III of Part I of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, and especially Article I-11, was based on the Laeken declaration aim to make the distribution of competences more transparent, and to answer the question: Who is responsible for what in Europe? This was to be achieved by dividing competences into three main categories: exclusive competence, shared competence and competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States (pages 102-103).
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Since the main categories of powers mentioned as well as the specialised coordination procedures are going to be treated separately (or have been, concerning the CFSP and CSDP), this posting offers an assortment of general observations, primarily based on official resources.
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Deprived of symbols and battered by two intergovernmental conferences, the achievement of the European Convention, the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, remains a milestone in the development of the European Treaties.
The second Convention was broadly based. It drew its members from the national parliaments, the European Parliament, representatives of the heads of state or government and the Commission under the guidance of a chairman and two vice-presidents chosen by the European Council.
Most of the treaty novelties and improvements discussed lately can be traced back to the Convention. Its main contributions concern the institutional decision making of the European Union, the framing of an incipient common foreign and security policy (CFSP), including a common security and defence policy (CSDP), and a more comprehensive area of freedom, security and justice.
The draft Constitution clarified and improved on the patchwork reforms of earlier treaties. One such instance is the clear exposition of different categories of EU competence.
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The UK House of Commons Library Research Paper 07/86, 6 December 2007, “The Treaty of Lisbon: amendments to the Treaty establishing the European Community” (page 11 and 12), set out the background of the present state of different categories of competences:
“A. Union Competence
1. Defining competences
‘Competence’ is the term used to define whether the Union or the Member States has the responsibility under the EC Treaties to make decisions on a particular policy. Competence at regional or local level is not specified in the Lisbon Treaty. In defining whether the EC or the Member States have competence in any particular area or for a specific task, the terms “spheres of competence”, “shared competence”, “Community competence” and “exclusive competence” are terms used in the present Treaties, but these do not list areas of exclusive or shared competence. The following EU explanation of competences, or powers, reflects the current situation:
There are three types of powers, which depend on how they are conferred:
Explicit powers: these are clearly defined in the relevant articles of the Treaties.
Implicit powers: according to the implicit powers theory, competence in external matters derives from explicit internal competence. Where the Treaties assign explicit powers to the Community in a particular area (e.g. transport), it must also have similar powers to conclude agreements with non-Community countries in the same field (the principle of parallelism between internal and external powers).
Subsidiary powers: where the Community has no explicit or implicit powers to achieve a Treaty objective concerning the common market, Article 308 of the Treaty establishing the European Community allows the Council, acting unanimously, to take the measures it considers necessary.”
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Research Paper 07/86 went on to describe the discussions during the last reform round:
“In the 2003-04 constitutional discussions, which initially included the EU institutions, Member State governments and parliaments, NGOs and a range of representatives from civil society, some participants wanted comprehensive lists setting out divisions of competence, while others preferred a more flexible approach without lists. The Lisbon Treaty, like the Constitution in 2004, contains a compromise: there are lists, but they are short and do not cover every aspect of Union activity, thereby leaving scope for interpretation. They define ‘exclusive’ and ‘shared’ competences, and areas in which the Union can provide supporting or complementary action.”
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Having presented a general view, the Research Paper continued with a presentation of the cautious UK government position:
“In its 2004 White Paper on the draft Constitution the British Government had generally welcomed the division of competences, but had been cautious about further conferral of powers on the Union. The present White Paper of July 2007 also supported the reforms in this respect, and particularly welcomed the Declaration stating that competences can be reduced, as well as increased:
The Reform Treaty will set out a more transparent and accountable structure for the EU. It includes a definition of the Union’s competences, which sets out where the EU can and cannot act. It also makes clear that Treaties can be revised to increase or reduce the competences conferred upon the EU. Therefore, the Member States would have the ability to transfer competences from the EU if they agree to do so.”
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Perhaps we should proceed with an overview of the mandate of the intergovernmental conference concerning the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), to be renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The IGC 2007 Mandate (Council document 11218/07, point 18) first established its predecessor, the IGC 2004 as the basis for the amendments to be made:
“18. The innovations as agreed in the 2004 IGC will be inserted into the Treaty by way of specific modifications in the usual manner. They concern the categories and areas of competences, the scope of qualified majority voting and of codecision, the distinction between legislative and non legislative acts, provisions inter alia on the Area of freedom, security and justice, the solidarity clause, the improvements to the governance of the euro, horizontal provisions such as the social clause, specific provisions such as public services, space, energy, civil protection, humanitarian aid, public health, sport, tourism, outermost regions, administrative cooperation, financial provisions (own resources, multiannual financial framework, new budgetary procedure).”
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The IGC 2007 then went on to enumerate the exceptions to the rule, first generally and then concerning the vertical division of powers:
“19. The following modifications will be introduced compared to the results of the 2004 IGC (see Annex 2):
a) A new Article 1 will state the purpose of the Treaty on the functioning of the Union and its relation with the EU Treaty. It will state that the two Treaties have the same legal value.
b) In the Article on categories of competences, placed at the beginning of the TEC, it will be clearly specified that the Member States will exercise again their competence to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.”
Footnote 10 gave further guidance:
“10 (a) The IGC will also agree a Declaration in relation to the delimitation of competences: "The Conference underlines that, in accordance with the system of division of competences between the Union and the Member States as provided for in the Treaty on European Union, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with Member States.
When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence. The latter situation arises when the relevant EU institutions decide to repeal a legislative act, in particular to better ensure the constant respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Council may request, at the initiative of one or several of its Members (representatives of Member States) and in accordance with Article 208, the Commission to submit proposals for repealing a legislative act. Equally, the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting in an Intergovernmental Conference, in accordance with the ordinary revision procedure provided for in Article [IV-443] of the Treaty on European Union, may decide to amend the Treaties on which the Union is founded, including either to increase or to reduce the competences conferred on the Union in the said Treaties."
(b) The following Protocol will be annexed to the Treaties:
"With reference to Article[ I-12(2)] on shared competences, when the Union has taken action in a certain area, the scope of this exercise of competence only covers those elements governed by the Union act in question and therefore does not cover the whole area.”
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The (IGC 2007) duly inserted a new Title I Categories and areas of Union competence into the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and at its beginning an Article 2a, which lays out the different categories (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/45).
12) The following new Title and new Articles 2 A to 2 E shall be inserted:
‘TITLE I
CATEGORIES AND AREAS OF UNION COMPETENCE
Article 2a TFEU (ToL), after renumbering Article 2 TFEU
1. When the Treaties confer on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
2. When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised its competence. The Member States shall again exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.
3. The Member States shall coordinate their economic and employment policies within arrangements as determined by this Treaty, which the Union shall have competence to provide.
4. The Union shall have competence, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on European Union, to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and under the conditions laid down in the Treaties, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
Legally binding acts of the Union adopted on the basis of the provisions of the Treaties relating to these areas shall not entail harmonisation of Member States' laws or regulations.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions of the Treaties relating to each area.
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Research Paper 07/86 gave the following presentation and assessment of the proposed amendments:
“The amended TFEU opens with a statement on its purpose, which is, according to amended Article 1 (Lisbon Article 1a), to organise the functioning of the Union and determine the areas, the scope of, and arrangements for exercising its competences. This Article makes clear the difference between the TFEU and the TEU, which contains intergovernmental procedures for the CFSP, treaty revision, ratification and other matters largely not subject to Union decision-making processes. There was no such Article in the Constitution. Amended Article 2 spells out that the TFEU and the TEU are the founding Treaties of the Union and have the same legal value. The present TEU and TEC are also both legally valid, although subject to different decision-making processes. The Categories and Areas of Union Competence are set out in Title 1, Lisbon Articles 2A–E (Constitution Articles I-12 to I-15 and I-17). Constitution Article I-16, on the Union’s competence in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the progressive framing of a common defence policy and the requirement for loyalty and mutual solidarity, remains intergovernmental and is transferred to Article 11(3) of the TEU.”
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The Swedish government’s Green Paper described the changes like this (page 143):
”Sammanfattning: Bestämmelser om indelning av unionens befogenheter i kategorier och områden införs i EUF-fördraget. Därmed blir befogenhetsfördelningen inom unionen mer överskådlig och ansvarsutkrävandet underlättas. Unionens befogenheter indelas i tre kategorier. Indelningen görs utifrån den befogenhet att lagstifta som unionen har tilldelats och beroende på om denna befogenhet tilldelats unionen ensam (exklusiv befogenhet), tillsammans med medlemsstaterna (delad befogenhet) eller om den i huvudsak omfattas av medlemsstaternas befogenhet (stödjande, samordnande eller kompletterande åtgärder).
En särskild bestämmelse införs i EUF-fördraget för att klargöra den särskilda karaktären hos samordningen av medlemsstaternas ekonomiska politik och sysselsättningspolitik.
En särskild bestämmelse införs också i EUF-fördraget för att klargöra att den gemensamma utrikes- och säkerhetspolitiken är av särskild art.
Tillämpningsområdet för flexibilitetsklausulen utvidgas och den parlamentariska kontrollen av klausulens användning stärks.”
The qualitative key words were more ’lucidity’ leading to improved ’accountability’.
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If we take a step back a few years in history, we can see that the European Convention proposed an Article I-11, already mentioned above, Categories of competence in the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/10):
Article I-11
Categories of competence
1. When the Constitution confers on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of acts adopted by the Union.
2. When the Constitution confers on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States shall have the power to legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence.
3. The Union shall have competence to promote and coordinate the economic and employment policies of the Member States.
4. The Union shall have competence to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and in the conditions laid down in the Constitution, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions specific to each area in Part III.
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In the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe the member states had agreed on the following wording in Article I-12 (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/15):
Article I-12
Categories of competence
1. When the Constitution confers on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
2. When the Constitution confers on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence.
3. The Member States shall coordinate their economic and employment policies within arrangements as determined by Part III, which the Union shall have competence to provide.
4. The Union shall have competence to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and under the conditions laid down in the Constitution, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
Legally binding acts of the Union adopted on the basis of the provisions in Part III relating to these areas shall not entail harmonisation of Member States' laws or regulations.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions relating to each area in Part III.
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You can make the comparison yourself; follow the drafting from the draft Constitution to the Constitution and now to the Lisbon Treaty.
My conclusion would be that once again we can see the debt of gratitude we owe the European Convention for an important improvement.
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In order to supplement this compilation of resources, we turn to some documents pertaining to the Lisbon Treaty.
The member states have agreed on the following Protocol (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/156):
Protocol
on the exercise of shared competence
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES
HAVE AGREED UPON the following provisions, which shall be annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
Sole Article
With reference to Article 2 A of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on shared competence, when the Union has taken action in a certain area, the scope of this exercise of competence only covers those elements governed by the Union act in question and therefore does not cover the whole area.
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We also take note of two relevant Declarations, number 17 and 18 (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/254-255):
17. Declaration concerning primacy
The Conference recalls that, in accordance with well settled case law of the Court of Justice of the
European Union, the Treaties and the law adopted by the Union on the basis of the Treaties have primacy over the law of Member States, under the conditions laid down by the said case law.
The Conference has also decided to attach as an Annex to this Final Act the Opinion of the Council Legal Service on the primacy of EC law as set out in 11197/07 (JUR 260):
“Opinion of the Council Legal Service of 22 June 2007
It results from the case-law of the Court of Justice that primacy of EC law is a cornerstone principle of Community law. According to the Court, this principle is inherent to the specific nature of the European Community. At the time of the first judgment of this established case law (Costa/ENEL, 15 July 1964, Case 6/641 (1)) there was no mention of primacy in the treaty. It is still the case today. The fact that the principle of primacy will not be included in the future treaty shall not in any way change the existence of the principle and the existing case-law of the Court of Justice.”
[Footnote 1 then quotes the ECJ]
(1) “It follows (…) that the law stemming from the treaty, an independent source of law, could not, because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as Community law and without the legal basis of the Community itself being called into question.”’
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In my humble opinion, it would have been more illuminating to state the well established supremacy or primacy of (EC) EU law openly, as the European Convention did in the draft Constitution:
Article 10(1)
Union law
1. The Constitution, and law adopted by the Union's Institutions in exercising competences conferred on it, shall have primacy over the law of the Member States.
The IGC 2004 followed the same principle of transparent lawmaking in Article I-6 Union law of the Constitutional Treaty:
Article I-6
Union law
The Constitution and law adopted by the institutions of the Union in exercising competences conferred on it shall have primacy over the law of the Member States.
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Relegating this crucial piece of information to an obscure declaration did nothing to change the fact that all the governments of the member states acknowledge of the principle of primacy, but the text of the Lisbon Treaty itself is less transparent as a result.
Perhaps nothing can console those who are most vexed at the principle of supremacy, but I would like to point out that it applies within the powers conferred on the European Union, not as a license to override or overturn national legislation or parliamentary powers in general.
And the Treaty of Lisbon does nothing to change the fact that both present and future conferral of powers to the EU remains in the hands of the member states’ governments, with approval by their parliaments.
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This is further elaborated in the other relevant Declaration of the Lisbon Treaty, which is the one on delimitation of competences (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/254-255):
“18. Declaration in relation to the delimitation of competences
The Conference underlines that, in accordance with the system of division of competences between the Union and the Member States as provided for in the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States.
When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence. The latter situation arises when the relevant EU institutions decide to repeal a legislative act, in particular better to ensure constant respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Council may, at the initiative of one or several of its members (representatives of Member States) and in accordance with Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, request the Commission to submit proposals for repealing a legislative act. The Conference welcomes the Commission's declaration that it will devote particular attention to these requests.
Equally, the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting in an Intergovernmental Conference, in accordance with the ordinary revision procedure provided for in Article 48(2) to (5) of the Treaty on European Union, may decide to amend the Treaties upon which the Union is founded, including either to increase or to reduce the competences conferred on the Union in the said Treaties.”
***
We can see that the European Union can not only ‘usurp’ powers from the member states, but also relinquish competences, especially if these powers can be better exercised at the member state level.
The common foreign and security policy and the common security and defence policy remain distinct areas of intergovernmental cooperation, and the provisions on competences are housed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). I refer the interested reader to earlier postings on the TEU.
In the following TFEU instalments we are going to take a closer look at the areas where the different categories of competence are applied, the three main categories, as well as specific coordination of economic and employment policies.
Ralf Grahn
Sources:
EU Law Blog: Reform Treaty: Taxonomy of Competence; 13 January 2008;
http://eulaw.typepad.com/eulawblog/2008/01/reform-treaty-t.html
Étienne de Poncins: Vers une Constitution européenne. Texte commenté du projet de traité constitutionel établi par la Convention européenne ; Éditions 10/18, 2003 ; www.10-18.fr
UK House of Commons Library Research Paper 07/86, 6 December 2007, The Treaty of Lisbon: amendments to the Treaty establishing the European Community
Statsrådsberedningen: Lissabonfördraget; Departementsserien (Ds) 2007:48, 20 december 2007 (‘Green Paper’ of the government of Sweden)
http://eulaw.typepad.com/eulawblog/2008/01/reform-treaty-t.html –
taxonomy meaning a system of classification. Having offered you a succinct option, I feel less guilty about the rambling Sunday constitutional (with small ‘c’) I am going embark on concerning the different categories of EU competence, as presented in the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL).
Étienne de Poncins in “Vers une Constitution européenne" pointed out that Title III of Part I of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, and especially Article I-11, was based on the Laeken declaration aim to make the distribution of competences more transparent, and to answer the question: Who is responsible for what in Europe? This was to be achieved by dividing competences into three main categories: exclusive competence, shared competence and competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States (pages 102-103).
***
Since the main categories of powers mentioned as well as the specialised coordination procedures are going to be treated separately (or have been, concerning the CFSP and CSDP), this posting offers an assortment of general observations, primarily based on official resources.
***
Deprived of symbols and battered by two intergovernmental conferences, the achievement of the European Convention, the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, remains a milestone in the development of the European Treaties.
The second Convention was broadly based. It drew its members from the national parliaments, the European Parliament, representatives of the heads of state or government and the Commission under the guidance of a chairman and two vice-presidents chosen by the European Council.
Most of the treaty novelties and improvements discussed lately can be traced back to the Convention. Its main contributions concern the institutional decision making of the European Union, the framing of an incipient common foreign and security policy (CFSP), including a common security and defence policy (CSDP), and a more comprehensive area of freedom, security and justice.
The draft Constitution clarified and improved on the patchwork reforms of earlier treaties. One such instance is the clear exposition of different categories of EU competence.
***
The UK House of Commons Library Research Paper 07/86, 6 December 2007, “The Treaty of Lisbon: amendments to the Treaty establishing the European Community” (page 11 and 12), set out the background of the present state of different categories of competences:
“A. Union Competence
1. Defining competences
‘Competence’ is the term used to define whether the Union or the Member States has the responsibility under the EC Treaties to make decisions on a particular policy. Competence at regional or local level is not specified in the Lisbon Treaty. In defining whether the EC or the Member States have competence in any particular area or for a specific task, the terms “spheres of competence”, “shared competence”, “Community competence” and “exclusive competence” are terms used in the present Treaties, but these do not list areas of exclusive or shared competence. The following EU explanation of competences, or powers, reflects the current situation:
There are three types of powers, which depend on how they are conferred:
Explicit powers: these are clearly defined in the relevant articles of the Treaties.
Implicit powers: according to the implicit powers theory, competence in external matters derives from explicit internal competence. Where the Treaties assign explicit powers to the Community in a particular area (e.g. transport), it must also have similar powers to conclude agreements with non-Community countries in the same field (the principle of parallelism between internal and external powers).
Subsidiary powers: where the Community has no explicit or implicit powers to achieve a Treaty objective concerning the common market, Article 308 of the Treaty establishing the European Community allows the Council, acting unanimously, to take the measures it considers necessary.”
***
Research Paper 07/86 went on to describe the discussions during the last reform round:
“In the 2003-04 constitutional discussions, which initially included the EU institutions, Member State governments and parliaments, NGOs and a range of representatives from civil society, some participants wanted comprehensive lists setting out divisions of competence, while others preferred a more flexible approach without lists. The Lisbon Treaty, like the Constitution in 2004, contains a compromise: there are lists, but they are short and do not cover every aspect of Union activity, thereby leaving scope for interpretation. They define ‘exclusive’ and ‘shared’ competences, and areas in which the Union can provide supporting or complementary action.”
***
Having presented a general view, the Research Paper continued with a presentation of the cautious UK government position:
“In its 2004 White Paper on the draft Constitution the British Government had generally welcomed the division of competences, but had been cautious about further conferral of powers on the Union. The present White Paper of July 2007 also supported the reforms in this respect, and particularly welcomed the Declaration stating that competences can be reduced, as well as increased:
The Reform Treaty will set out a more transparent and accountable structure for the EU. It includes a definition of the Union’s competences, which sets out where the EU can and cannot act. It also makes clear that Treaties can be revised to increase or reduce the competences conferred upon the EU. Therefore, the Member States would have the ability to transfer competences from the EU if they agree to do so.”
***
Perhaps we should proceed with an overview of the mandate of the intergovernmental conference concerning the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), to be renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The IGC 2007 Mandate (Council document 11218/07, point 18) first established its predecessor, the IGC 2004 as the basis for the amendments to be made:
“18. The innovations as agreed in the 2004 IGC will be inserted into the Treaty by way of specific modifications in the usual manner. They concern the categories and areas of competences, the scope of qualified majority voting and of codecision, the distinction between legislative and non legislative acts, provisions inter alia on the Area of freedom, security and justice, the solidarity clause, the improvements to the governance of the euro, horizontal provisions such as the social clause, specific provisions such as public services, space, energy, civil protection, humanitarian aid, public health, sport, tourism, outermost regions, administrative cooperation, financial provisions (own resources, multiannual financial framework, new budgetary procedure).”
***
The IGC 2007 then went on to enumerate the exceptions to the rule, first generally and then concerning the vertical division of powers:
“19. The following modifications will be introduced compared to the results of the 2004 IGC (see Annex 2):
a) A new Article 1 will state the purpose of the Treaty on the functioning of the Union and its relation with the EU Treaty. It will state that the two Treaties have the same legal value.
b) In the Article on categories of competences, placed at the beginning of the TEC, it will be clearly specified that the Member States will exercise again their competence to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.”
Footnote 10 gave further guidance:
“10 (a) The IGC will also agree a Declaration in relation to the delimitation of competences: "The Conference underlines that, in accordance with the system of division of competences between the Union and the Member States as provided for in the Treaty on European Union, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with Member States.
When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence. The latter situation arises when the relevant EU institutions decide to repeal a legislative act, in particular to better ensure the constant respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Council may request, at the initiative of one or several of its Members (representatives of Member States) and in accordance with Article 208, the Commission to submit proposals for repealing a legislative act. Equally, the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting in an Intergovernmental Conference, in accordance with the ordinary revision procedure provided for in Article [IV-443] of the Treaty on European Union, may decide to amend the Treaties on which the Union is founded, including either to increase or to reduce the competences conferred on the Union in the said Treaties."
(b) The following Protocol will be annexed to the Treaties:
"With reference to Article[ I-12(2)] on shared competences, when the Union has taken action in a certain area, the scope of this exercise of competence only covers those elements governed by the Union act in question and therefore does not cover the whole area.”
***
The (IGC 2007) duly inserted a new Title I Categories and areas of Union competence into the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and at its beginning an Article 2a, which lays out the different categories (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/45).
12) The following new Title and new Articles 2 A to 2 E shall be inserted:
‘TITLE I
CATEGORIES AND AREAS OF UNION COMPETENCE
Article 2a TFEU (ToL), after renumbering Article 2 TFEU
1. When the Treaties confer on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
2. When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised its competence. The Member States shall again exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.
3. The Member States shall coordinate their economic and employment policies within arrangements as determined by this Treaty, which the Union shall have competence to provide.
4. The Union shall have competence, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on European Union, to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and under the conditions laid down in the Treaties, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
Legally binding acts of the Union adopted on the basis of the provisions of the Treaties relating to these areas shall not entail harmonisation of Member States' laws or regulations.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions of the Treaties relating to each area.
***
Research Paper 07/86 gave the following presentation and assessment of the proposed amendments:
“The amended TFEU opens with a statement on its purpose, which is, according to amended Article 1 (Lisbon Article 1a), to organise the functioning of the Union and determine the areas, the scope of, and arrangements for exercising its competences. This Article makes clear the difference between the TFEU and the TEU, which contains intergovernmental procedures for the CFSP, treaty revision, ratification and other matters largely not subject to Union decision-making processes. There was no such Article in the Constitution. Amended Article 2 spells out that the TFEU and the TEU are the founding Treaties of the Union and have the same legal value. The present TEU and TEC are also both legally valid, although subject to different decision-making processes. The Categories and Areas of Union Competence are set out in Title 1, Lisbon Articles 2A–E (Constitution Articles I-12 to I-15 and I-17). Constitution Article I-16, on the Union’s competence in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the progressive framing of a common defence policy and the requirement for loyalty and mutual solidarity, remains intergovernmental and is transferred to Article 11(3) of the TEU.”
***
The Swedish government’s Green Paper described the changes like this (page 143):
”Sammanfattning: Bestämmelser om indelning av unionens befogenheter i kategorier och områden införs i EUF-fördraget. Därmed blir befogenhetsfördelningen inom unionen mer överskådlig och ansvarsutkrävandet underlättas. Unionens befogenheter indelas i tre kategorier. Indelningen görs utifrån den befogenhet att lagstifta som unionen har tilldelats och beroende på om denna befogenhet tilldelats unionen ensam (exklusiv befogenhet), tillsammans med medlemsstaterna (delad befogenhet) eller om den i huvudsak omfattas av medlemsstaternas befogenhet (stödjande, samordnande eller kompletterande åtgärder).
En särskild bestämmelse införs i EUF-fördraget för att klargöra den särskilda karaktären hos samordningen av medlemsstaternas ekonomiska politik och sysselsättningspolitik.
En särskild bestämmelse införs också i EUF-fördraget för att klargöra att den gemensamma utrikes- och säkerhetspolitiken är av särskild art.
Tillämpningsområdet för flexibilitetsklausulen utvidgas och den parlamentariska kontrollen av klausulens användning stärks.”
The qualitative key words were more ’lucidity’ leading to improved ’accountability’.
***
If we take a step back a few years in history, we can see that the European Convention proposed an Article I-11, already mentioned above, Categories of competence in the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/10):
Article I-11
Categories of competence
1. When the Constitution confers on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of acts adopted by the Union.
2. When the Constitution confers on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States shall have the power to legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence.
3. The Union shall have competence to promote and coordinate the economic and employment policies of the Member States.
4. The Union shall have competence to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and in the conditions laid down in the Constitution, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions specific to each area in Part III.
***
In the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe the member states had agreed on the following wording in Article I-12 (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/15):
Article I-12
Categories of competence
1. When the Constitution confers on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
2. When the Constitution confers on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence.
3. The Member States shall coordinate their economic and employment policies within arrangements as determined by Part III, which the Union shall have competence to provide.
4. The Union shall have competence to define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy.
5. In certain areas and under the conditions laid down in the Constitution, the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these areas.
Legally binding acts of the Union adopted on the basis of the provisions in Part III relating to these areas shall not entail harmonisation of Member States' laws or regulations.
6. The scope of and arrangements for exercising the Union's competences shall be determined by the provisions relating to each area in Part III.
***
You can make the comparison yourself; follow the drafting from the draft Constitution to the Constitution and now to the Lisbon Treaty.
My conclusion would be that once again we can see the debt of gratitude we owe the European Convention for an important improvement.
***
In order to supplement this compilation of resources, we turn to some documents pertaining to the Lisbon Treaty.
The member states have agreed on the following Protocol (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/156):
Protocol
on the exercise of shared competence
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES
HAVE AGREED UPON the following provisions, which shall be annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
Sole Article
With reference to Article 2 A of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on shared competence, when the Union has taken action in a certain area, the scope of this exercise of competence only covers those elements governed by the Union act in question and therefore does not cover the whole area.
***
We also take note of two relevant Declarations, number 17 and 18 (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/254-255):
17. Declaration concerning primacy
The Conference recalls that, in accordance with well settled case law of the Court of Justice of the
European Union, the Treaties and the law adopted by the Union on the basis of the Treaties have primacy over the law of Member States, under the conditions laid down by the said case law.
The Conference has also decided to attach as an Annex to this Final Act the Opinion of the Council Legal Service on the primacy of EC law as set out in 11197/07 (JUR 260):
“Opinion of the Council Legal Service of 22 June 2007
It results from the case-law of the Court of Justice that primacy of EC law is a cornerstone principle of Community law. According to the Court, this principle is inherent to the specific nature of the European Community. At the time of the first judgment of this established case law (Costa/ENEL, 15 July 1964, Case 6/641 (1)) there was no mention of primacy in the treaty. It is still the case today. The fact that the principle of primacy will not be included in the future treaty shall not in any way change the existence of the principle and the existing case-law of the Court of Justice.”
[Footnote 1 then quotes the ECJ]
(1) “It follows (…) that the law stemming from the treaty, an independent source of law, could not, because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as Community law and without the legal basis of the Community itself being called into question.”’
***
In my humble opinion, it would have been more illuminating to state the well established supremacy or primacy of (EC) EU law openly, as the European Convention did in the draft Constitution:
Article 10(1)
Union law
1. The Constitution, and law adopted by the Union's Institutions in exercising competences conferred on it, shall have primacy over the law of the Member States.
The IGC 2004 followed the same principle of transparent lawmaking in Article I-6 Union law of the Constitutional Treaty:
Article I-6
Union law
The Constitution and law adopted by the institutions of the Union in exercising competences conferred on it shall have primacy over the law of the Member States.
***
Relegating this crucial piece of information to an obscure declaration did nothing to change the fact that all the governments of the member states acknowledge of the principle of primacy, but the text of the Lisbon Treaty itself is less transparent as a result.
Perhaps nothing can console those who are most vexed at the principle of supremacy, but I would like to point out that it applies within the powers conferred on the European Union, not as a license to override or overturn national legislation or parliamentary powers in general.
And the Treaty of Lisbon does nothing to change the fact that both present and future conferral of powers to the EU remains in the hands of the member states’ governments, with approval by their parliaments.
***
This is further elaborated in the other relevant Declaration of the Lisbon Treaty, which is the one on delimitation of competences (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/254-255):
“18. Declaration in relation to the delimitation of competences
The Conference underlines that, in accordance with the system of division of competences between the Union and the Member States as provided for in the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States.
When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence. The latter situation arises when the relevant EU institutions decide to repeal a legislative act, in particular better to ensure constant respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Council may, at the initiative of one or several of its members (representatives of Member States) and in accordance with Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, request the Commission to submit proposals for repealing a legislative act. The Conference welcomes the Commission's declaration that it will devote particular attention to these requests.
Equally, the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting in an Intergovernmental Conference, in accordance with the ordinary revision procedure provided for in Article 48(2) to (5) of the Treaty on European Union, may decide to amend the Treaties upon which the Union is founded, including either to increase or to reduce the competences conferred on the Union in the said Treaties.”
***
We can see that the European Union can not only ‘usurp’ powers from the member states, but also relinquish competences, especially if these powers can be better exercised at the member state level.
The common foreign and security policy and the common security and defence policy remain distinct areas of intergovernmental cooperation, and the provisions on competences are housed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). I refer the interested reader to earlier postings on the TEU.
In the following TFEU instalments we are going to take a closer look at the areas where the different categories of competence are applied, the three main categories, as well as specific coordination of economic and employment policies.
Ralf Grahn
Sources:
EU Law Blog: Reform Treaty: Taxonomy of Competence; 13 January 2008;
http://eulaw.typepad.com/eulawblog/2008/01/reform-treaty-t.html
Étienne de Poncins: Vers une Constitution européenne. Texte commenté du projet de traité constitutionel établi par la Convention européenne ; Éditions 10/18, 2003 ; www.10-18.fr
UK House of Commons Library Research Paper 07/86, 6 December 2007, The Treaty of Lisbon: amendments to the Treaty establishing the European Community
Statsrådsberedningen: Lissabonfördraget; Departementsserien (Ds) 2007:48, 20 december 2007 (‘Green Paper’ of the government of Sweden)
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Consolidated Lisbon Treaty Update
People continue to arrive at this blog looking for a consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon.
The last update of the list of consolidated language versions is not that old, published 8 February 2008. But since then a few kind souls have told us about new consolidations, and I have been able to take a look at some complementary sources. Therefore, the time for an update has come.
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.
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 one 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
***
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
***
Finnish
Europe Information, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, has promised a consolidated version during the spring.
***
French
Europa-EU-Audience
The bilingual web site en.europa-eu-audience found two unofficial parallel versions 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.
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.
Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget - Konsoliderad version av EU:s fördrag (pdf)
Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget – Protokoll mm (pdf)
http://www.sieps.se
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
***
If the number of languages with consolidated versions was seven or eight (Hungarian attested but not verified) last time the list was published, 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
The last update of the list of consolidated language versions is not that old, published 8 February 2008. But since then a few kind souls have told us about new consolidations, and I have been able to take a look at some complementary sources. Therefore, the time for an update has come.
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.
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 one 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
***
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
***
Finnish
Europe Information, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, has promised a consolidated version during the spring.
***
French
Europa-EU-Audience
The bilingual web site en.europa-eu-audience found two unofficial parallel versions 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.
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.
Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget - Konsoliderad version av EU:s fördrag (pdf)
Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget – Protokoll mm (pdf)
http://www.sieps.se
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
***
If the number of languages with consolidated versions was seven or eight (Hungarian attested but not verified) last time the list was published, 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
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne
Jean-Luc Sauron was the first or one of the first to publish a book on the Treaty of Lisbon. The book, in French, is divided into two main parts.
First, there is a presentation and explanation of the reform process and the main provisions of the Reform Treaty, especially the new features. These 140 pages seem well adapted for interested citizens and students, who wish to find a suitable introduction.
Second, the rest of the book (pages 141 – 351) contains 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.
The book contains a Preface written by the well known journalist and blogger Jean Quatremer.
Ralf Grahn
See:
Jean-Luc Sauron: Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne – Texte consolidé intégral des traités – Explications et commentaires ; Gualino éditeur, Paris 2008 ; 351 p. (Prix 20 €)
First, there is a presentation and explanation of the reform process and the main provisions of the Reform Treaty, especially the new features. These 140 pages seem well adapted for interested citizens and students, who wish to find a suitable introduction.
Second, the rest of the book (pages 141 – 351) contains 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.
The book contains a Preface written by the well known journalist and blogger Jean Quatremer.
Ralf Grahn
See:
Jean-Luc Sauron: Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne – Texte consolidé intégral des traités – Explications et commentaires ; Gualino éditeur, Paris 2008 ; 351 p. (Prix 20 €)
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