The EU is changing. Why do we care? Because it is us, the citizens, that make up the Union. This essay attempts to answer questions on how the Lisbon treaty will affect important institutions when it comes to decision-making, namely the European Parliament (EP), the Council of Ministers and National Parliaments, in terms of democracy and legitimacy. The authors use a case study in order to describe and explain what changes the Lisbon treaty brings. The essay is based on democratic theories originating from Robert A. Dahl as well as the federalist and constitutional theories described by Karvonen. The latter theories are used to give an explanation as to where the EU is heading – will it eventually become a federation?The results show that the Lisbon treaty will have positive effects on democratically elected institutions such as the EP and national parliaments, as the treaty enhances their power of decision. Results also prove that the EU show more and more traits of a federal state, as attempts to finalize a constitutional document which would make the Union more “glued” together have been made. These attempts are visible in the Lisbon treaty and their implications facilitate the Union becoming a federation. The authors draw some important conclusions from these results. They find that a strengthened European Parliament as well as strengthened National Parliaments will increase democracy within, as well as the legitimacy of, the Union. They also find important aspects in the new treaty pointing towards a development into a federal state. There seem to be a will amongst politicians to strengthen the unification and as the Lisbon treaty started out being a constitutional document, the authors conclude that the EU leans toward a federal order, however, not in the near future.

My thesis is based on my studies in Lisbon (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa), I bring deeper insight into the Portuguese piano pedagogy in the territory of Lisbon. The work is based on the system of Portuguese music education and describes the significant educational institutions of music. Piano pedagogy is defined in the historical development well - founded on available literature, more attention is given to some important personalities of teachers and composers in the field of piano music. Part of the work is dedicated to my personal reflection of Portuguese piano pedagogy and my own experiences with teachers, especially consultations with professor Miguel Henriques, who summarized pedagogical principles in his book The (Well) Informed Piano. KEY WORDS: piano pedagogy, Lisbon, Portugal, Miguel G. Henriques, The (Well) Informed Piano, Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.

The exceptio doli generalis, which is the Roman law defence of “bad” faith, in the general form, has , until the decision of Bank of Lisbon and South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd, been one of the mechanisms that has been utilised by South African courts to apply abstract values of fairness and equity into the South African substantive law. The exceptio dolis generalis was available to a party in circumstances where the act of bringing the action by the other party constituted an act of “bad” faith. The court in the Bank of Lisbon and South Africa case decided that the exceptio doli generalis had never been received into Roman Dutch law and didn’t accept it as a defence that could be utilised and applied in South African law. After the decision in the Bank of Lisbon case there have been many differing views on whether the exceptio doli generalis can and should still be applied in South African law and concern in legal circles regarding the “gap” that the decision left in our law and the need to develop other means of ensuring greater fairness in the operation of the law of contract through possibly legislative intervention which at a stage was being investigated by the Law Commission. With the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act, Act 68 of 2008, the question which now comes to the fore is whether the Consumer Protection Act is a reintroduction of the exceptio doli generalis or whether the Act is merely a codification of the common law principles and abstract values of public policy/interest and good faith, which could mean one and the same thing. In order for this question to be answered an in depth investigation and study of theexceptio doli generalis, its applicability and development in South African law is required. Such a study is of importance in order for the aim and purpose of the defence to be properly understood. It is also necessary in order to understand how such a defence ties in and is closely linked with the abstract values and concepts of good faith and public policy/interest, which we have seen courts recognise in decisions subsequent to the Bank of Lisbon and South Africa case. Once this question is answered, attention will be turned to the Consumer Protection Act, its provisions and the effect thereof, and whether such provisions amount to the reintroduction of the exceptio dolis generalis but in an indirect way by the codification of the concepts of public policy/interest and good faith, which in turn could be the exceptio dolis generalis just called by a different name. The answer to this research question is very relevant and of extreme significance. It could mean that the South African legislature eventually got to doing what the legal profession has been asking of it for years and that is to put clarity on the defence of the exceptio doli generalis. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Private Law / unrestricted

The first chapter characterizes the common trade policy of the EU both from factual and institutional aspect. The second chapter describes the EU intra-trade, with focus on the European single market and implementation of Lisbon Strategy. The third chapter inquires into the EU extra-trade, with focus on the EU bilateral and multilateral trade relations, the WTO multilateral trade negotiations and some of the most famous trade disputes of the EU. The last chapter is dedicated to the changes of the Czech Republic trade policy which result from its integration in the common trade policy.

In 2000, the EU, under the influence of its current progress in the integration process, established a list of fairly ambitious goals in the economic, social and environmental issues, which it had wanted to achieve by 2010. The reform program has been named the Lisbon Strategy and has often been paraphrased as "catch up and overtake the U. S." Shortly after its launch, however, it began to be clear that such radical reform was not realistically possible, especially because of its complexity, a lack of willingness of Member States to implement these reforms and a poor set of implementation tools. The Lisbon Strategy has been followed by a new EU global reform document for 2020, Europe 2020, mainly due to the fact that the problems plaguing European countries remain the same and they haven't been adequately resolved by the Lisbon Strategy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the implementation of the Lisbon strategy in the Czech Republic, identify in which areas the CR has been successful, and in which it has lagged behind the performance of other EU members as well as where it could achieve a more significant progress. At the same time, the work examines the reasons why the Lisbon Strategy, though a very interesting concept of reform, has remained out of public interest, and its achievements haven't...

The topic of this thesis is a theoretical analysis of the institutional design of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) after the adoption of the Lisbon treaty. The main aim of the thesis is to reveal the reasons explaining a development towards centralization of the policy-making process of the CFSP that the Lisbon treaty introduced. Centralization is equated with a delegation of sovereignty from member states to a supranational level - High Representative for the CFSP/European External Action Service. The thesis for this purpose tests three possible explanations built upon three main theories of international relations: the centralisation as a result of the 1.decreasing EU's relative military power (neorealism) 2.deteriorating collaborative problems (neoliberalism) and 3.increasing degree of Europeanization of the nation-state identities and interests of the member states (constructivism) within covered time period from 2001 to 2007. The thesis applies a qualitative method, it is a case study. The conclusion of the thesis is that there are two reasons for the development towards more centralized policy-making process of the CFSP after the Lisbon treaty. Firstly, it is the decreasing EU's relative military power (neorealism) and secondly increasing level of Europeanization of nation-state...

The Lisbon Treaty has made significant changes to the institutional functioning of the whole system of the European Union. Most notably, it has constituted a non-rotating long-term Presidency for the European Council and Foreign Affairs Council. Before the Lisbon Treaty, the Member State of the European Union presided over all Council constellations, including the European Council, for a six-month term. These changes certainly contributed to the solution of some issues (for instance continuity issues), on the other hand these changes affected in some ways the performance of the rotating Presidency. I focus on these changes to the institutional form of the Presidency and on the effects these changes had on the Presidency's performance in its functions, namely the negotiation and external representation. I draw on the experience of the first two post-Lisbon Presidencies, Spanish and Belgian one. My aim is to examine the changing role of the Presidency in these functions. I explore the role of the Presidency before and during negotiations of the founding Treaties of the European Union and its role after the reforms introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Mainly, I focus on examining the relationship between the rotating Presidency and newly-established permanent Presidency of the European Council and High...

The aim of the thesis is to analyse asylum law of the European Union with focus on the changes, which introduced the Treaty of Lisbon. The paper describes development of the EU asylum law, establishing of the Common European Asylum System (CAES) and changes that Lisbon Treaty introduced in comparison with the former regulation. The text also deals with the right to asylum, which is established in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The thesis is divided into 7 chapters. In the first part of the paper the author follows historical development of the asylum law of the European Union and beginning of the harmonization until adoption of the Amsterdam Treaty. The second chapter is dedicated to the establishment of the CAES, which more than 10 years ago became main priority of the asylum policy of the EU and which aims to harmonize asylum laws of the Member States and therefore ensure a unified application not only of international, but also of European legislation from this area. Recent major changes in the structure and functioning of the European Union, which were introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, are in general outlined in the third chapter of this paper. Detailed description of changes is presented in the next chapter, which is divided into section according to the institutions. Each...

This work deals with communication of the Treaty of Lisbon to the Czech public before its ratification. Its aim is on the basis of the theoretical background of marketing communications and promotion to analyse the communication strategy used to inform the Czech public about the Treaty of Lisbon and to provide a proposal for its improvement. Findings made on the basis of this particular case may serve as a guide for improving communication of other European affairs and for finding ways to achieve increased awareness of the Czech public on European issues.

English abstract Constitutional consequences of the Lisbon treaty Work analyses constitutional implications of changes brought by the Lisbon treaty. In the first chapter, the beginning of the European integration is briefly described as well as the evolution of the European Union along with more detailed description of the negotiations and ratification of the Lisbon treaty. Second chapter contains information on constitutional characteristics of the European Union before the effect of the Lisbon treaty. Third chapter is aimed on the formal elements of the Lisbon treaty and contains thorough description of the global changes it has on the legal systems of the member states. Subject of the closing chapter is the effect the treaty have caused on the constitutional order of the Czech Republic. Foremost, integration provisions are analyzed, mainly with regards to the issues of state sovereignty, process of the ratification and approach of the Constitutional court of the Czech Republic to the preliminary assessment of the questions of mentioned sovereignty leading to the conclusion that even with the Lisbon treaty in effect, Czech Republic will remain sovereign country. Work is closed with short treatise on constitutional effects of respective changes enforced by the treaty approval on primary national legal...