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

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.

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