An Intergovernmental Conference, convened on 17 July 2007, was entrusted with determining the amendments to be made to the founding treaties of the European Union and European Community after the rejection of the European Constitution.
The text of the draft Reform Treaty was presented on 5 October 2007 in four parts: Preamble, Treaty, Protocols and Declarations.
At the meeting of the Heads of State and Government of 18 and 19 October 2007 in Lisbon, agreement was reached on these texts, with only some minor changes:
- Protocol (No 9bis) on the Decision of the Council Relating to the Implementation of Article 9c(4) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 205(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Between 1 November 2014 and 31 March 2017 on the one hand, and as from 1 APRIL 2017 on the other
- Declaration on Article 9c(4) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 205(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
- Declaration in relation to the delimitation of competences
- Composition of the European Parliament
- Declaration ad Article 222 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the number of Advocates-General in the Court of Justice
- Declaration ad Article 9e of the Treaty on European Union
When all Member States ratify the text of the Reform Treaty, we will still have two seperate treaties (one entitled Treaty on the European Union – revising the existing treaty with the same name – , the other one ‘Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’ – revising the Treaty establishing the European Community), but only one organisation, entitled European Union.
As for environmental issues, in Article 174 TEC a reference on the importance of “combating climate change” will be added.
Further information: see Draft Reform Treaty page at European Council website.