News 19/10/07
EU Leaders Agree on Treaty
European leaders have agreed on the Reform Treaty in Lisbon today. The inter-governmental conference (IGC) which began yesterday and will finish today has produced an agreement on the text of the Reform Treaty now being dubbed the ‘Lisbon Treaty’. The document will be signed on 13 December 2007 and EU leaders hope that it will be ratified in all member states by spring 2009.
Concessions have been made to various countries including Italy who have received an extra MEP, Poland managed to have the Ionnina clause placed in the text and Bulgaria have been given the go ahead to use the spelling ‘evro’ for euro in official documents. Many leaders for example the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have stated that all their requests have been met.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso described the IGC agreement as a “historic agreement” (Deutsch Welle). However many are asking themselves how what was meant to be a simple ‘tidying-up exercise’ can be called a historic agreement. Those campaigning for referendums on the new Treaty have been arguing that the new treaty is more than a tidying up exercise and that maybe today a historic agreement has been made. A historic agreement which may lead to the decrease of democracy throughout Europe.
Family Photo
European leaders stand together in agreement over the new treaty.
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