The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009. It provides the EU with modern institutions and optimised working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today's challenges in today's world. In a rapidly changing world, Europeans look to the EU to address issues such as globalisation, climatic and demographic changes, security and energy. The Treaty of Lisbon reinforces democracy in the EU and its capacity to promote the interests of its citizens on a day-to-day basis. More ››
Belgium has presented an ambitious programme for its 6-month EU presidency in the second half of 2010. Belgium takes over the rotating presidency from Spain on 1 July.
The Treaty of Lisbon change allowing 18 more MEPs to assume their duties is approaching the end of the approval process. It has been given the green light by both the European Parliament and the Member State representatives present at the Intergovernmental Conference on 23 June. As the Treaty of Lisbon was not yet in place when the last parliamentary elections took place, only 736 MEPs could be elected. The next step will be the ratification of this treaty change by all Member States.
On 26 April, foreign ministers reached a political agreement on the proposal for the establishment of the European External Action Service, the EEAS. It will serve as a diplomatic service for the EU, including Union delegations in third countries.
Introduced by the Lisbon treaty, the European citizens initiative is intended to make the EU more democratic by giving citizens a more direct say in its policies.
