Publisher's Synopsis
This book presents a thorough and comprehensive presentation and analysis of the Lisbon Treaty and also puts the discussion on the contents of the Treaty into a theoretical perspective, with links to the recent developments within the European and international constitutional debate. Important constitutional aspects of the Treaty, like the relations between the EU institutions, the protection of Human Rights and the division of competences between the EU and the Member States are given particular importance.
The theoretical discussion deals with issues such as multi-level constitutionalism and, in other words, if the term constitution necessarily needs to be connected with a State in the traditional sense or not. This leads to a qualified, normative discussion not only on how the EU will be governed when the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force, but also on how it ought to be governed in the future, when ideals such as effective government, democracy and popular participation in decision-making are all taken into account and combined. A new theory on integration is presented, according to which supra-nationalism must be seen an important value in its own right in the modern world, and thus further developed in the future. This line of reasoning may reach beyond the current EU discussion, but is of interest for all lawyers, political scientists or readers in general who have an interest in the future development of the EU.
