Enhanced Cooperation, Amendment, and Conclusion

Abstract

This concluding chapter addresses two issues that are distinct — enhanced cooperation and Treaty revision — but which are nonetheless connected, the linkage being tension between the desire that all should be brought on board as the EU advances or changes, and the difficulties that this can pose in an EU of twenty-seven Member States. The analysis begins by considering enhanced cooperation. There is a brief overview of the provisions on enhanced cooperation in the Nice Treaty, followed by discussion of the changes made by the Lisbon Treaty, the rationale for these amendments and their likely impact. This is followed by examination of the Lisbon provisions on Treaty revision. These were, like much else in the Lisbon Treaty, borrowed from the Constitutional Treaty. The chapter concludes by examining some of the broader implications of the new schema for enhanced cooperation and Treaty revision. The focus then shifts to more general reflection on process and content in the Lisbon Treaty. The objective is not to summarize the conclusions drawn in previous chapters, but rather to re-visit and reflect on the issues of process and content raised at the outset.