EU Treaties

The debate about EU Treaty changes is back.

The EU project is confronted with a radical new context: war in our continent, geopolitical rivalry, climate emergency, the rising cost of living, pandemic experience, tensions about migration, misinformation disturbing the democratic debate and a new enlargement in preparation.

The need for stronger European capacity to act is obvious on all these fronts, and the current Lisbon Treaty shows its limits. The time has come to reassess it and identify some targeted changes.

This was also the conclusion of the recent Conference on the Future of Europe, as some key citizens’ identified aspirations can only be met with targeted Treaty changes. Reflecting these citizens’ aspirations and one year and a half of hard work later, the European Parliament is about to vote on a key report of this legislature, calling for a European Convention to work on the update of the European Treaties. This call will be formally addressed by the European Parliament to the European Council in its plenary session in November.

In the run-up to this high moment of European political life, the Symposium on “EU Treaties – Why they need targeted changes” took place on 16 November. Among the speakers, the S&D Members of the European Parliament subscribing to the EP report, as well as some of the authors of the FEPS new report on the topic.

For more information, please write to Christian Salm, Head of the FEPS President’s Office: christian.salm@feps-europe.eu