The Lisbon Treaty and the Foreign, Security and Defence Policy:Reforms, Implementation and the Consequences of (non–)Ratification

Abstract

Abstract. The article examines the Lisbon Treaty and asserts that the treaty’s effects would be to revamp rather than revolutionize the existing arrangements for the CFSP/ESDP. With the future of the Lisbon Treaty in doubt since the Irish referendum on 12 June 2008, the article considers what the future scenarios might be for the CFSP/ESDP provisions of the treaty. The article does not adjudicate on the credibility of these future scenarios but proceeds by first outlining the changes introduced to the CFSP/ESDP by the treaty; the issues raised by the amendments introduced; and then considers the consequent effects on the functioning of the CFSP/ESDP, either by the approval of the reform by ratification of the treaty or, if it is considered a credible proposition, by piecemeal implementation. As the article illustrates, in most instances the reforms introduced by the Lisbon Treaty (or through part of a ‘cherry picking’ process) will still require further substantive decisions to determine the form of their implementation.