Abstract:

Since its foundation, the European Union (EU) has made significant progress in its political, economic and social integration processes and reached to a historical turning point at the beginning of the 21st century in terms of its deepening aspirations. The rewriting of the founding treaties and the constitutionalisation initiatives have emerged as the main instruments to transform the Union into a more effective and transparent structure in the new century. In this framework, after the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in the French and the Netherlands referendums in May and June 2005 respectively, the Treaty of Lisbon was initiated to meet various concerns of the member states and to change the working mechanisms of the EU in a considerable way. As providing the legal framework for the smooth functioning of an enlarged Union, the Treaty was signed on December 13, 2007 and submitted to the member states for ratification processes. It aims at solving institutional and structural problems of the EU, strengthening its democracy and making the EU an effective actor in the international arena. However, the difficulties in the ratification procedures of the member states and the “No” vote of the Irish referendum on June 12, 2008 constituted a setback for the creation of a more powerful, transparent and democratic EU and caused some doubts about the future of further integration. In this framework, Fall 2009, which is fixed as the date of the second Irish referendum, seems as critical time period to determine not only the future of the Treaty of Lisbon but also that of the EU

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