O TRATADO DE LISBOA 2007 E O FUTURO

Se houver referendo na França e na Holanda a resposta, muito provavelmente, será NÃO.

A União Europeia continua numa encruzilhada.


«Treaty of Lisbon may refer to:

Treaty of Lisbon (1661), a Peace Treaty and renewed Alliance, where Portugal ceded to England Tangiers as part of the dowry of Queen Catherine of Braganza to Charles II of England

Treaty of Lisbon (1668), a Peace Treaty that ended the 26 year-long Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and Spain, granting independence to Portugal after 60 years (1580-1640) of Iberian Union

Treaty of Lisbon (1859), a treaty between Portugal and the Netherlands that decided the border between Portuguese Timor and the Dutch East Indies


Treaty of Lisbon (2007), a European Union treaty designed to reform the European Union»




« Brown flies to Lisbon for belated EU treaty signing


Matthew Weaver, Louise Radnofsky and agencies
Thursday December 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited



The prime minister travelled to Lisbon today to sign the controversial EU reform treaty, alone and behind closed doors after he skipped the televised signing ceremony with the 26 other EU heads of state.
The other leaders added their names to the document at a special event in a 16th-century Portuguese monastery.
The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, was Britain's sole representative at the ceremony at the Jeronimos Monastery, in what is being seen as a sign of Britain's half-hearted commitment to Europe.

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Gordon Brown arrived more than two hours after the conclusion of the ceremony to join the heads of state at the end of their lunch in the nearby National Coach Museum.
The Treaty of Lisbon was brought to him to sign on his own before a camera team from Portuguese television. By the time he arrived, many of the other leaders, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, had already left.
As a stream of EU leaders walked down a bright blue carpet leading into the ornate building this morning, Brown was appearing before the Commons liaison committee.
He opened with a joking reference to his plan to miss the signing ceremony and the EU heads of state family photo, so that he could appear before the committee.
"I think you can see the priority I attach to attending this committee," he said.
He told the committee it will be the government that decides whether Britain will opt in or out of certain European measures but said that parliament would have the chance to debate the overall principles of the treaty when it votes on its ratification.
Brown also said to Michael Connarty, the Labour chair of the European scrutiny committee, that he was not concerned by the emphasis on qualified majority voting in the treaty, saying that it "has been a feature of every treaty".
Brown's planned late arrival in Portugal prompted a charge of "gutlessness" from the Conservatives, who accused him of turning the event into a "national embarrassment".
"What will other EU leaders think of a prime minister who dithers for a week about whether he dares be photographed putting pen to paper?" asked the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague.
"Does he think that other European prime ministers don't have diary commitments, too? Instead of leadership we have indecision, gutlessness and broken election promises. Britain deserves better."
The Lisbon Treaty, a historic compromise deal, comes after two years of debate among European leaders about how much sovereignty they should surrender to a centralised administration.
It replaced the failed European constitution, which was scuppered when referendums in France and the Netherlands voted "no".
The treaty has reignited demands by Eurosceptics in Britain for a referendum. Yesterday in Strasbourg, British Conservative and UK Independence MEPs were accused of behaving like football hooligans for heckling leaders who support the treaty.
EU leaders claim the new document will help boost the union's international influence and prosperity by allowing it to respond quickly to global challenges such as defence, energy security and diplomatic crises.
Governments are mindful of claims that they dare not put the treaty to a popular vote over fears that a majority would reject it.
Only one country - Ireland - plans a referendum. The 26 others say they will ratify the document within the individual parliaments.
The signing ceremony at an ornate 16th-century riverside monastery included speeches and music but no news conference.
The treaty scraps the system under which the union's presidency rotates among member states every six months. Instead, a president chosen by member states will serve a two-and-a-half-year term.
The new treaty also alters voting procedures, cuts the number of commissioners and establishes a new high representative for foreign policy.
In an interview with the Times last night, Brown dismissed the "fuss" over his late arrival, denying that it made him look "marginal" or that it was designed to avoid bad publicity.
He also insisted the treaty should mark the end of the EU's focus on "semi-constitutions", and it was now time for the body to show "global leadership" on the economy, trade and climate change.
"What I'm going to say to Europe is stop looking inwards, stop looking at constitutions or semi-constitutions or institutions for a long time ahead and for the foreseeable future concentrate on the big issues ahead of us," Brown said.
"What I'm going to do is call for Europe to show some global leadership." »

(In «The Guardian»)