The Lisbon Treaty and I

Technical details 2014 Creative Commons Licence [CC BY-NC 4.0] Written by: Matia Losego - Dinamo [projectos@dinamo.pt] Lidija Petrović - Interkultura [lydia.petrovic@yahoo.com] Vanja Pavlović - Interkultura [vpavlovi@ffzg.hr] Design by: Beecom Association [www.beecom.org] Graphic Layout by: Cooperativa Socialeinrete [www.socialeinrete.com] DrawveticaMini Font by Alexander Kaiser [CC Licence] Produced in the framework of Grundtvig Learning Partnership ‘S.Coo.L.L. – Sustainable Cooperation at Local Level’ [www.partnershipscooll.eu] With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.

This publication reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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S.Coo.L.L. Project ........................................................................

European Union ...........................................................................

The Treaty of Lisbon ....................................................................

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes ..................................................................

Myself in the Treaty ......................................................................

More info ...................................................................................

S.Coo.L.L. project The ‘Sustainable Cooperation at Local Level’ S.Coo.L.L. Learning Partnership is a two years [2012-2014] project under the Grundtvig Learning Partnership action of Lifelong Learning Programme of European Commission.

The project aims to improve the knowledge and understanding of e-democracy and democratic participation instruments for policy planning at the local level. One of its goals is developing tools to better understand and use participatory mechanisms to empower European citizens in active democratic citizenship.

The project is developed by 7 partners from 5 countries (Portugal, Italy, Romania, France, and Croatia) and is directed to Citizens of the European Union.

The project is developing 7 international mobilities in partner countries which are learning opportunities for learners to meet new European realities and people, to understand and to share best practices and plan follow up actions to promote and strengthen Democratic Citizenship in Europe.

This booklet was presented in the 6th learning mobility, which happen from 24th to 28th of February 2014 in Strasbourg [France].

More information about the project can be found at www.partnershipscooll.eu.

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European Union The European Union is made of its citizens and for its citizens!

The European Union is a unique political and economic partnership between 28 democratic European countries aiming at peace, prosperity and freedom for its 500 million citizens, in a fairer and safer world. It is a constantly evolving structure which has no historical precedent.

That means that the EU is unlike anything else—it isn’t a government, an association of states, or an international organization. Rather, the 28 Member States have relinquished part of their sovereignty to EU institutions, with many decisions made at the European level.

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community1 and the European Economic Community2 formed by the 6 countries in 1951 and 1958, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany. The EU is based on the rule of law: everything that it does is founded on treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed by all member countries. Human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights are the core values of the EU. The EU is run by three major bodies: the Council of European Union3, representing national governments, the European Parliament4 (elected by the people) and the European Commission5 (the EU staff). Competencies in scrutinizing and amending legislation are divided between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union while executive tasks are carried out by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council6.

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http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_ecsc_en.htm http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_eec_en.htm 3 http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/council-eu/index_en.htm 4 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en 5 http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm 6 Official meeting with the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council itself.

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The Treaty of Lisbon The ‘Sustainable Cooperation at Local Level’ S.Coo.L.L. Learning Partnership is a two years [2012-2014] project under The European Council, which met in Lisbon on 18th and 19th October 2007, approved the new reform treaty called “Lisbon Treaty”. The Lisbon Treaty was drafted as a replacement for the Constitutional Treaty which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in a referendum in 2005.

On December 1st 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, thus ending several years of negotiation about institutional issues and after the ratification from all EU Member states. The Treaty of Lisbon amends the current EU7 and EC8 treaties, without replacing them. It provides the Union with the legal framework and tools necessary to meet future challenges and to respond to citizens’ demands. The Treaty also clarifies the relations between the European Union and its member countries.

The Treaty of Lisbon confirms three principles of democratic governance in Europe: Democratic equality The European institutions must give equal attention to all citizens Representative democracy A greater role for the European Parliament and greater involvement for national parliaments Participatory democracy New forms of interaction between citizens and the European institutions, like the citizens’ initiative

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The Treaty of Lisbon brought several innovations to the European Union: A more democratic and transparent Europe, with a strengthened role for the European Parliament and national parliaments, more opportunities for citizens to have their voices heard and a clearer sense of who does what at European and national level.

A more efficient Europe, with simplified working methods and voting rules, streamlined and modern institutions for a EU of 28 members and an improved ability to act in areas of major priority for today’s Union.

A Europe of rights and values, freedom, solidarity and security, promoting the Union’s values, introducing the Charter of Fundamental Rights into European primary law, providing for new solidarity mechanisms and ensuring better protection of European citizens.

Europe as an actor on the global stage will be achieved by bringing together Europe’s external policy tools, both when developing and deciding new policies. The Treaty of Lisbon gives Europe a clear voice in relations with its partners worldwide. It harnesses Europe’s economic, humanitarian, political and diplomatic strengths to promote European interests and values worldwide, while respecting the particular interests of the Member States in Foreign Affairs.

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http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_maastricht_en.htm http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_eec_en.htm

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Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes The Lisbon Treaty includes key changes aimed at increasing the consistency and coherence of the EU’s external actions. Some of the main changes the Treaty brought to European Union are: More power to the Charter of Fundamental Rights!9 The Treaty of Lisbon makes a cross-reference to the Charter as a real catalogue of rights that the EU believes all citizens of the Union should enjoy. The six chapters of the Charter cover the following aspects: individual rights related to dignity; freedoms, equality, solidarity, rights linked to citizenship status and justice. The institutions of the Union must respect the rights written into the Charter. The same obligations are incumbent upon the Member States when they implement the Union’s legislation. The Court of Justice will ensure that the Charter is applied correctly.

Welcome European Citizens’ Initiative!10 The European citizens’ initiative allows one million EU citizens coming from at least 7 out of the 28 member states to participate directly in the development of EU policies, by calling on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal.

More transparency!

Decisions of the Council of European Union on legislative matters are made public.

More power to the European Parliament!

The European Parliament (directly elected by people, from 2014 with 750 members) has now the same power of the Council of European Union in law-making and EU budget monitoring.

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More power to National Parliaments!

National Parliaments can work more effectively to enforce subsidiarity in order to allow EU to act only where action will be more effective at EU-level than at national level. The Treaty includes also a voluntary withdrawal clause, recognizing that the member states may always withdraw from the Union if they wish to.

New voting rules in the Council of European Union!

Starting from 2014, a new voting method is introduced - double majority voting. To be passed by the Council, proposed EU laws will then require a majority not only of the EU’s member countries (55 %) but also of the EU population (65 %). This will reflect the legitimacy of the EU as a union of both peoples and nations.

Understand who does what!

The Treaty identifies categories of power for EU and member states: Exclusive power of EU, Complementary power and Shared power. Check out which are the areas included in each category online11.

Welcome High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy!

The Treaty establishes this new figure, being also the Vice-President of the European Commission, who ensures the consistency of the Union’s external action.

Highlighted EU policy areas!

The Treaty highlights the role of EU in key policy areas such as Climate change, Energy, Public Health, Research and Economy, among others.

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http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2007/c_303/c_30320071214en00010016.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/welcome?lg=en 11 http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/democracy/index_en.htm 10

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Myself in the Treaty Facts:

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Lisbon Treaty affects plenty of aspects of our lives. We are daily using European Union policies and opportunities to study, work and participate into our public life in the country where we live or are coming from. The networks of people we deal with every day are composed also [but not only] by European citizens.

Considering these aspects and the facts listed above we cannot stay indifferent to a new thing such as the Lisbon Treaty.

To play our citizenship in a complete way, to contribute to the improvement of democracy in our cities, communities and in the European Union itself and also to be able to complain about the current economic and social situation, we need to deal with the Lisbon Treaty- to understand it, to monitor its implementation and to contribute to our Democratic Citizenship.

The choice is in our hands [minds and hearts]: we can allow European Union to be a huge bureaucratic machine working in several buildings around Europe or we can make the [huge] effort of understanding its gears and mechanisms and contribute to strengthen Democratic Citizenship within it and in the places where we live and work.

All the partners included in S.Coo.L.L. project - namely youth NGO, schools, local authorities, migrants organizations, universities and researchers organizations and media - have, directly or indirectly, the role of facilitating the process of understanding European Citizenship, its mechanisms and its actions. However, all these efforts are useless if we, as citizens, do not strive in this process and if we do not assume our individual responsibility to contribute to our Democracy.

This booklet is a small tool which aims at supporting citizens and organizations to have the first contact with the Lisbon Treaty and the changes it introduced in European policy. It is not enough, but it is a first step of a long road. The Treaty is one part of the instruction manual of the European Union and its institutions, like in a giant Scrabble, and to play this game is fundamental to know its rules.

The path is made by walking and social transformation is done by transforming.

So let’s transform!

More info This booklet does not substitute the understanding of more detailed sources about the Treaty of Lisbon.

Some useful links are: European Union page about the Lisbon Treaty europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm List of EU Local offices and information points in your country ec.europa.eu/contact/local_offices_en.htm The S.Coo.L.L. Partners are available for further information and support at local level.

Their contacts are: Dínamo – Associação de Dinamização Sócio-Cultural [Portugal] www.dinamo.pt Interkultura [Croatia] https://www.facebook.com/interkultura.ic?ref=ts&fref=ts Associazione Bee.Com [Italy] www.beecom.org Comune di Santa Elisabetta [Italy] www.comune.santaelisabetta.ag.it AMSED [France] www.amsed.fr Liceul Mihai Viteazul [Romania] www.lmvbailesti.ro Associação A Comunidade Islâmica da Tapada das Mercês e Mem Martins [Portugal] www.acitm.wordpress.com