Application of the Lisbon Treaty provisions on involvement of national parliaments in the EU decision-making process 10 years later Abstract Adoption of the Lisbon Treaty has brought about several essential institutional changes in the functioning of the European Union. For example, a further shift towards co-decision by the European Parliament on secondary law that became ordinary legislative procedure. Also, qualified majority voting in the Council has been extended and subjected to the new conditions. Last but not least, the EU competences have been divided as exclusive, shared and supporting. These and related further steps simultaneously gave rise to a more intense involvement of national parliaments, both in the sense of a scrutiny over a due exercise of conferred powers as well as a democratic safeguard of the new processes. The main goal of this thesis is to present a comprehensive picture of existing legal framework in this field, including a brief summary on crucial historical factors that have been shaping it until its current form. Hand in hand with that, it also offers evaluation of the most frequently used mechanisms throughout the 10 years of its application. Consequently, it leads to a reflection on how, and if at all, effectively exploit the potential of national parliaments in this regard,...

Master thesis "The First and Second Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland" is a comparative case study, which - using the concept of europeanization - analyses causes, which led to the opinion shift of Irish citizens on the Treaty of Lisbon between years 2008 and 2009. Whereas during the first poll in June 2008 Irish rejected the Treaty, 16 months later it was accepted by an expressive majority, when almost half a million people more voted for it. The thesis clarifies, which elements caused a totally different course and result, explores opinions of individual players such as political parties, government, trade unions, associations of interest or significant companies, observes course of the campaign before the referendum, summarizes and analyses outcomes and subsequent reactions both on national and Union level. From the discovered facts the thesis concludes, that behind the change of attitude of the Irish stood especially external effects. On one side pressure of the other member states of the Union and even the EU as a whole to finalize the process of institutional reform and also explicit refusal of repeating the scenario from 2005, when ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was terminated after disagreement of France and the Netherlands. On the other side acceptance...

of Content and Conclusions of Dissertation Constitution for Europe JUDr. Jiří Feichtinger The central subject-matter of the dissertation is the assessment of the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe ("constitutional treaty") and the co called founding treaties, i.e. the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("founding treaties") from the viewpoint of the constitutional law and the general theory of state. From the same viewpoints I also examine the nature of the European Union itself. When choosing this topic of my dissertation I was inspired by ever growing discussions on the extent of the European integration and its purpose, whether it is at all necessary, and whether the European Union is becoming a state or rather remains an international organization sui generis. I am trying to answer, to what extent the content of the constitutional treaty corresponded to its name and whether this document could at all be called a constitution; the same question is being answered with regards to the founding treaties. I further examine, whether the constitutional and/or the founding treaties lead to the united Europe as perceived not only within the notion of the European integration, but also by the general theory of state, i.e. whether these treaties...

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.

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...

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...

Esta Dissertação tem por finalidade examinar as diferentes formas por que o federalismo pode e vem se manifestando desde o modelo embrionário, dos Estados Unidos da América, até a união de Estados nacionais que integra a União Européia. Como primeiro passo, destaca os elementos constitutivos do Estado Federal, com ênfase na importância do fator descentralização do poder na construção de um Estado composto formado por Estados autônomos; em seguida, investiga as origens históricas do federalismo antigo e do norte-americano, na busca dos motivos que levaram à criação de tão inovadora forma de governo de modo particular, traz a abordagem de um caso emblemático de federalismo assimétrico, o das Comunidades Autônomas espanholas, a em de demonstrar a complexidade de coexistência em um só Estado de diversas nacionalidades, etnias, tradições regionais etc.; depois, apresenta o impacto do caso europeu, sem precedentes, em uma era globalizada, ante a necessidade de um processo de integração de maior consistência entre Estados. Culmina por perscrutar os fatores federativos emergentes do Tratado de Lisboa, aprovado em 2009. / The purpose of this thesis is to examine into the different ways federalism may assume and has assumed from the embryonic model of the United States of America through the union of national States found in the European Union. As a first step, this study points out the constitutive elements of the federal State, focusing on the power decentralization factor in building a composite State formed of autonomous States. Next, the historic origins of the ancient and the American federalism will be examined, in an attempt to identify the reasons that lead to the creation of such an innovative form of government. Particularly, an emblematic case of asymmetric federalism will be studied, namely, the Spanish Autonomous Communities, in order to demonstrate the complexity of the cohabitation, in a single State, of several nationalities, ethnic groups, regional traditions, etc. Finally, the impact of the unprecedented European case in a global era, in view of the need for a more consistent integration process among States, will be analyzed. The study culminates with an investigation into the federative factors emerging from the Lisbon Treaty ratified in 2009.

Le principe de l’équilibre institutionnel a été utilisé par la Cour de justice depuis les origines de la construction européenne afin de réguler la répartition des pouvoirs entre les institutions des Communautés européennes puis de l’Union européenne. Cette thèse vise à établir une définition du principe en identifiant ses éléments constitutifs. La détermination de son champ d’application, tant matériel qu’organique, et de ses fonctions dans la jurisprudence permet d’y voir un principe général du droit s’appliquant à l’ensemble des institutions et organes de l’Union dotés d’un pouvoir de décision. Principe structurel, l’équilibre institutionnel garantit les éléments fondamentaux du système institutionnel de l’Union européenne, en particulier l’indépendance organique et la collaboration fonctionnelle des institutions. Il ne constitue pourtant pas un frein à l’évolution du système. Utilisé dans un nombre limité d’affaires, le principe pourrait être exploité de façon plus systématique par la Cour de justice. En tant qu’élément structurant de l’organisation horizontale des pouvoirs, il donne une clé de compréhension du système institutionnel de l’Union et de ses évolutions. Il pourrait s’appliquer à des problématiques nouvelles issues notamment du traité de Lisbonne, telles que la délimitation entre actes législatifs, actes délégués et actes d’exécution. Apte à appréhender l’ensemble des rapports de pouvoir entre institutions, le principe de l’équilibre institutionnel,entendu dans un rapport de compatibilité avec le principe de séparation des pouvoirs, pourrait constituer un fondement théorique du régime politique de l’Union européenne. / The principle of institutional balance has been used by the European Court of Justice in order to solve conflicts between European institutions about the distribution of powers. This dissertation elaborates a legal definition of the principle. This first includes an approach of its scope of application. The study of the functions of institutional balance in the Court’s caselaw allows understanding the normative impact of this principle. It is a general principle of law which applies to all institutions and organs having a role in the decision-making procedures established by the Treaties. As a structural principle, institutional balance is useful to understand the institutional system of the EU as a whole. It could be used by the Court in amore systematic way and applied to new issues of institutional law, brought for instance by the Lisbon Treaty. The new distinction between legislative acts, delegated acts and executive acts offers new grounds for legal hostilities that the principle could help to solve. As a general institutional principle, institutional balance can be compared to the principle of separation of powers and understood as a founding principle of the European Union political regime.