Annual report - 2007

The signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2007 may well prove to have been an important step in the history of the European Union. Not because the treaty will lead to big changes in the way the EU works – it will not, though it does promise to make the institutions more effective. But the agreement on the new text – assuming that all 27 members ratify it in 2008 – should allow the EU to leave behind six years of dull and sometimes acrimonious debates on treaties, institutions and constitutions. The Union will have more time and energy to deal with the crucial external challenges that will shape the way the continent develops in the coming years, and which most European citizens care more about than treaty change. These include the revival of Russian power, the economic success of China and India, climate change, energy security, international terrorism and migration.