The Lisbon Treaty strengthens the EU as it stands today but with no further objectives. The way it has embedded unanimity in key areas will put huge pressure on the European Council. Pierre Defraigne argues that the coming decade will be marked by greater intergovernmentalism. This speech claims that only the collective leadership of Heads of State and Governments and the President of the Commission under President Van Rompuy’s chairmanship can break the deadlock over the EU’s economic governance and defence.
Download the Speech
The Summer 2010 issue of Europe's World looks at a number of policy areas where that lesson must be borne firmly in mind by today's decisionmakers. The global economic recession has laid bare a range of issues that need to be addressed very promptly before they develop further and become difficulties of a very different magnitude. It has also accentuated long-term trends to which Europe has so far failed to respond. We feel it's fair to say that few if any publications in the field of international relations and policy debate have grown as fast or widened their scope so remarkably as Europe's World. Our 120,000 readers worldwide are drawn from politics, government, business, the media, universities and NGOs.
What do YOU think?Please leave your comments at the end of the article