On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, thus ending almost 2 decades of institutional reform within the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon amends the current EU and EC treaties, without replacing them. The main institutional innovations are outlined below. For EKN Skopje, especially the changes under “Council” and “External representation” are relevant.

Key institutional innovations

Council:

• A permanent Council president will chair European Council summits for a 2-and-a-half year renewable term, replacing the current 6-month rotation system. The European Council decided to nominate Herman van Rompuy (Belgium) as its first president. He will chair 4 European Council summits a year and set out the agenda ahead. He is likely to be the public face of the Union.
• The post of a 'double-hatted' High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will replace current EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Javier Solana and the external relations commissioner. The Council decided to approve Mrs Catherine Ashton (UK) as its first EU "foreign minister".
• The High Representative will chair the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. This will end the rotating presidency system in this Council as well.
• The other Council formations (e.g. for ministers of  Economy and Finance, or Agriculture) maintain the rotating presidency system. However, the Lisbon Treaty introduces a double majorityrule for Council qualified majority decisions (55% of member states and 65% of the EU's population need to support a proposed EU legislation to pass by qualified majority). Due to Polish opposition, the new voting system will only apply from 2014.
• An exit clause is introduced, making it possible for member states to leave the EU.

Parliament:

• As far as the European Parliament is concerned, the co-decision procedure becomes the ordinary legislative procedure for the adoption oflegislative acts. the Lisbon Treaty extends the co-decision procedure to virtually all fields of action of the Union where the Council has to decide by qualified majority voting. This puts the EP’s powers virtually on an equal footing with those of the Council of Ministers.
• The number of MEPs is limited to a maximum of 750 (with a minimum of six and a maximum of 96 per country).
• National parliaments are strengthened by giving them the right to raise objections against draft EU legislation (so-called orange card) as a reinforced control mechanism for the principle of subsidiarity. A national parliament has to draft a so-called ‘reasoned opinion’ on a European legislative proposal within 8 weeks after the proposal is tabled. If correct, the Commission has to amend the legislation. In case of persistent disagreement, the Court of Justice decides.

Commission:

• The powers of this institution remain more or less the same.
• The already existing practice that the European Parliament needs to approve the Commission president as well as the other Commissioners, is confirmed in the new treaty.
• Importantly, due to Irish demands in order to assure a positive outcome of the country’s 2nd referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, each member state maintains its own Commissioner. This decision crossed out the original idea of the Constitution, which was to reduce the number of Commissioners to 2/3 of the number of member states.

Citizens:

• The Lisbon Treaty introduces the Citizens' initiative: If 1 million Europeans present a petition to the European Commission then it would have to look at ways of introducing the proposals. Alternatively it could force the Union's executive to look at ways of repealing legislation.
• The Treaty of Lisbon preserves existing citizen rights while introducing new ones. In particular, it guarantees the freedoms and principles set out in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and gives its provisions a binding legal force. It concerns civil, political, economic and social rights.

External representation:

• The Lisbon Treaty brings together Europe's external policy tools. This is achieved mainly by the aforementioned High Representative for the Union in Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who is also also Vice-President of the Commission. Aim of this double-hatted position is to increase the impact, the coherence and the visibility of the EU's external action.
• A new European External Action Service will provide backup and support to the High Representative. This service will consist of officials from the Commission, the General Secretariat of the Council, as well as staff seconded from national diplomatic services of the member states (1/3 for each institution).
• In third countries, the current missions of the European Commission and the Council Secretariat will be merged and renamed into EU Delegations. They will become the field offices of the European External Action Service. Importantly, these EU Delegations will eventually take over the role of the rotating presidency in representing the EU;
• Importantly, the mandate for the EU Delegations currently excludes consular affairs.
• A single legal personality (terminating the distinction between the European Union and the European Community) will also contribute to  strengthen the Union's negotiating power, making it more effective on the world stage and a more visible partner for third countries and international organisations.