The Lisbon Treaty v The Constitution of Europe

Introduction
The Treaty of Lisbon is one of the most relevant documents that underpins the European
Union's life and smooth functioning (EU). The EU has developed over the last few decades from
a purely economic group to a supranational legislative entity whose roles have significant
political, legal, social, and cultural implications for its members. The successive enlargements of
the EU's membership to incorporate new members are a keystone to this evolution. With the
EU's membership now at 27, proper changes of the EU's institutions, strategies, and decision-
making mechanisms had become critical. This is where the Lisbon Treaty comes in: it's a treaty
that aims to change the EU's institutions, reform the EU's internal policies, and improve the
EU's external policies.

Provided that the Lisbon Treaty replaced the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe
(TECE) and that the Lisbon Treaty reforms some of the EU's most basic constitutional
components, it is important to determine if the Lisbon Treaty essentially acts as the EU's
constitution. It is critical to note at this point that the type of constitution in question is not the
19th century constitutionalist conception of a nation state, but rather a supranational entity
that transcends national borders. The major conclusion of this paper is that the Lisbon Treaty is
one of the key documents that make up the EU's constitution, rather than the EU's constitution
itself.

“A body of basic values or existing precedents according to which a state or other organization
is acknowledged to be governed,” according to the Oxford Dictionary.
. As this refers to the physical concept of a constitution, it also includes political and social
aspects. As a result, scholars have described a constitution as one that exhibits formal
characteristics while still being publicly recognizable.

In essence, this means that the constitution must act as a mega-structure upon which the
order's entire social and political roles must be based. As a result, the first major function of a
constitution is to govern the life, scope, and exercise of political power within a given entity. Its
second main feature will be to encapsulate society's principles within the body.

The Lisbon Treaty is the European Union's Constitution.

The Libson Treaty is without a doubt one of the EU's most legally powerful and necessary
treaties to date. It aims to make substantial changes to the EU's founding treaties, the Treaty on
European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The treaty's changes
and goals have far-reaching implications for many key EU organisations, and they aim to
change/empower their operations.

One of the most significant changes brought on by the Lisbon Treaty is the extension of the
powers of key EU institutions such as the European Parliament and the European Court of
Justice (CJEU). The ordinary legislative process of the European Parliament has been revised in
order to broaden its scope and give it a greater role in the execution of legislation. The CJEU, for
example, has been given more control by merging the third and first pillars and expanding its
authority to cover justice and home affairs matters.

Another distinguishing characteristic of the Lisbon Treaty is that it expressly strengthens the
EU's human rights security. To begin with, Treaty has made the EU's Charter of Fundamental
Rights constitutionally enforceable. The codification of the rights has significantly raised the
image of the covered rights, despite the fact that it does not bring any additional rights into the
regime. Furthermore, the Lisbon Treaty provides for accession to the European Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, maintaining continuity between
these two human rights systems by subjecting them to the European Court of Human Rights'
jurisdiction.

The award of legal personality to the EU is one of the other major changes brought on by the
Lisbon Treaty. This has significant implications for the EU's external policies. The EU is now
willing to sign multinational treaties and become a party to them. As a result, the Lisbon Treaty
has improved the coherence of its foreign policy. The treaty has attempted to successfully
streamline the decision-making process within the Council by abolishing the old weighted vote
system and replacing it with eligible consensus voting for significant decisions. Finally, the
treaty reaffirms the democratic values that underpin the EU.

Despite the above considerations, it is difficult to deny that the Lisbon Treaty has important
procedural significance in the EU. The treaty qualifies to be called the constitution of Europe
because it defines and governs the EU's main institutions, their organization, and powers. And,
if the meanings enumerated in the preceding section were applied to the Lisbon Treaty, it will
be concluded that the treaty does also control the scope and application of political authority
within the EU, as well as the institution's social make-up (democratic nature and foreign policy).
As a result, it is fair, from one perspective, to regard the Lisbon Treaty as a modern version of
the European Constitution.

However, considering the complexity of the topic, further research into the Lisbon Treaty is
needed before reaching a final conclusion.

Just a Constitutional Document, the Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty has many elements that clearly suggest that it is not intended to be seen as a
formal/defining text of the EU's constitution.

To begin with, the term "constitution" does not appear in the treaty at all. Although others may
dismiss this as merely wordplay, it is unquestionably more symbolic than that. The fact that it
substituted the TECE while avoiding the term constitution is a clear indicator that the drafters
and lawmakers did not want it to be mistaken for the EU constitution. Second, and related to
the symbolism argument, the Lisbon Treaty makes no mention of any kind of member state
unity in terms of a single flag, anthem, or European Day (unlike the TECE). This means that the
treaty does not plan to function as a constitution, even on a social basis.
Third, member states' adoption of the Lisbon Treaty serves as clear proof that the treaty is not
the European Constitution. In most EU member states, the treaty was ratified at the national
level using the standard procedure for any foreign treaty ratification – legislative ratification.
Also the Netherlands and France, who were solely responsible for the TECE's demise, ratified
the Lisbon Treaty by parliamentary approval. This is a clear indicator that this convention is no
more from any other international treaty that a country has signed, and it is definitely not a
formal constitution. The implication is that the convention may be reversed exactly the same
way it was applied, with the same ease.

A study of constitutional amendment processes in other constitutions will serve to demonstrate

this point even more clearly. The United States of America's constitution is a single written
document that can only be changed by a special legislative procedure that differs from regular
legislative procedures. To put it another way, the constitution can only be changed by the use
of vested interests and force. States, on the other hand, could effectively repeal the Lisbon
Treaty without any special procedures. When a government or a supranational entity is ruled by
a constitution, the constitution is usually set down and is either unchangeable or only very
unlikely to change. There is no longer a central entity with legislation that aims to govern the
body/state as the constitution is subject to revision as quickly as national laws. As a result, the
contention that the Lisbon Treaty is just an important treaty and not a constitution in and of
itself is vindicated.

The Treaty of Lisbon and the United Kingdom's Constitution

Since establishing that the Lisbon Treaty is simply not the European Constitution, its political
position can be best understood when comparing the British Constitution to the EU
Constitution.

There is no official written constitution in the United Kingdom. Its constitution, on the other
hand, is based on the common-law structure and the principle of parliamentary supremacy. The
senate, according to this principle, has the legislative authority to enact whatever legislation it
deems fit. The voter is the only real check on this force. Both checks on this force, including
electoral and judicial checks, are ineffective in invalidating the parliament's rules. The printed
aspects of the constitution include legal parts such as the Parliament Act 1911, the European
Communities Act 1972, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Scotland Act 1998, while the
unwritten elements include the Scottish Act 1998.

In a related vein, the EU lacks a single piece of constitutional text from which to draw all of its
constitutional values. Instead, the EU has a number of texts19 that constitute the institution's
basic principles. As a result, just as the UK's Parliament is the sole legislative body, the EU's
treaties (and therefore constitution) are ruled by the member states. The Lisbon Treaty, like the
Parliament Act of 1911 or the Human Rights Act of 1998, is only one significant legislative
document in the grand scale of politics and law. This is the location of the treaty, and it would
be a stretch to call it the European Constitution.

Final Thoughts
To summarize, the Lisbon Treaty is undoubtedly one of the EU's most visible treaties. The
transformations it entails have far-reaching implications in the EU's political, social, and legal
spheres. However, a closer examination of the Lisbon Treaty – its form and manner of
execution – reveals that the treaty is only a part of the EU constitution and not the only binding
text of the EU constitution.