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With the Conference on the Future of Europe now at an end, a new phase has started: that of following up on the more than 320 recommendations it produced. This process is however a complicated one. Legally, ways to implement the Conference's recommendations may require changes to the European Union (EU) Treaties, which is a complex and challenging process. Politically, debating how to implement reforms and deciding to what extent to modify the EU legal system may require intense negotiations. The ...

This document presents the proposed amendments to the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The note outlines the relevant changes and provides a comparison between the current ESM Treaty and the proposed amended one. This note will be updated in light of relevant developments and it complements two separate EGOV briefings: The European Stability Mechanism: Main Features, Instruments and Accountability and the ESM Pandemic Crisis Support.

The EU's founding Treaties have been revised by the Member States in numerous rounds of reforms. Such Treaty revision is a way to ensure that EU primary law evolves, adapts, and responds to new developments and changing needs. The last comprehensive Treaty reform dates back to the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009. While another comprehensive Treaty change is not yet on the agenda, the recent debates on the 'Future of Europe' triggered a number of reform proposals, some of ...

As the only European Union institution elected directly, the European Parliament is at the heart of representative democracy, the foundation upon which the EU is built. Since its creation, the Parliament’s powers have evolved significantly, transforming it into a full-fledged legislative body and forum of discussion and engagement, whose influence is felt in virtually all areas of EU activity. This paper provides an overview of the European Parliament's main powers, demonstrating how they interact ...

This in-depth analysis, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, recalls the earlier debates linking the enlargement of the Union with the need to adapt its constitutional framework, and discusses whether further constitutional reforms, involving Treaty change or not, are necessary when a further enlargement of the Union will take place in the near future. It focuses on three ...

Although calls for reform of the EU have increased in recent years, in particular as a consequence of the various challenges the EU has faced, the UK's vote in June 2016 on its EU membership has accelerated this process. In this context, the main EU institutions have all contributed to the debate, while individual Member States or groups of Member States have also brought forward initiatives. The main positions are outlined in this 'at a glance' note.

This fact sheet presents the background and essential provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon. The objective is to provide a historical context for the emergence of this latest fundamental EU text from the ones which came before it. The specific provisions (with article references) and their effects on European Union policies are explained in more detail in the fact sheets dealing with particular policies and issues.

The main developments of the early Treaties are related to the creation of the Community’s own resources, the reinforcement of the budgetary powers of Parliament, election of MEPs by direct universal suffrage and the setting-up of the European Monetary System. The entry into force of the Single European Act in 1986, substantially altering the Treaty of Rome, bolstered the notion of integration by creating a large internal market.

In the Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well as in several other fields such as enhanced cooperation, certain appointments and treaty revision, the decision-making procedure is different from that prevailing in the ordinary legislative procedure. The dominant feature in these fields is a stronger component of intergovernmental cooperation. The challenge of the public debt crisis has provoked an increased use of such decision-making mechanisms, notably in the framework of European economic governance ...

Citizens’ expectations of the European Union vary widely across policy areas. A Eurobarometer survey – Europeans in 2016: Perceptions and expectations, fight against terrorism and radicalisation – seeks to identify those areas in which EU citizens want to see the Union doing more. Having identified areas in which there is a gap between the EU’s current action and citizens’ expectations of the Union, the next step is to look at the potential – within the constraints of the EU legal foundations – for ...