Description

This book examines the institutional innovations being introduced into the European Union as a result of 2009's Treaty of Lisbon. After examining the major changes taking place within the EU's major institutions--the European Council, European Parliament, and the European Commission--the authors look at the innovations brought by the treaty, such as the Presidency triangle, the citizen's initiative, and the potentially enhanced role for national parliaments to play at the EU level. Two issues that were not particularly pressing at the time of the treaty's negotiation but which now exert a strong influence over the ability of the EU to realize its ambitions are carefully scrutinized: climate change and the global financial crisis.

The book is a collective work of a team of researchers from Brussels-based research institutes CEPS, EGMONT (Belgium's Royal Institute of International Affairs), and the European Policy Centre (EPC).

Contributors include Piotr Maciej Kaczynski and Peadar Broin (CEPS); Franklin Dehousse, Philippe de Schoutheete, Tinne Heremans, Jacques Keller, Guy Milton, and Nick Witney (EGMONT); and Janis Emmanouilidis, Antonio Missiroli, and Corina Stratulat (EPC).