The European Union took a major step when its 27 member-states signed the Lisbon Treaty, signalling their resolve to make the EU a more coherent organisation. The new treaty incorporates most of the changes that were proposed by the constitutional framework, which was rejected by the French and Dutch voters two years ago. The EU will now have a new permanent president. The plans to have a European flag, anthem and other symbols have been kept aside to reach consensus on issues that can help Europe gain a new political traction. A post of foreign policy czar is also in the offing as is the decision to have more decisions by majority voting.

While this signals the resolve of the Europeans to keep the 50-year-old institution going, despite occasional setbacks, public disenchantment with the institution is also at an all-time high — 75 per cent of Europeans want a referendum on any treaty giving EU more powers. There are fears in the established member-states that economic migrants from the new members are flooding their economies, driving wages downward and unemployment up and straining their fragile welfare systems. There is also a feeling in many East European countries that they have been given second-class status a members of EU. Their citizens will not enjoy the freedom to work in any member-state. They are also being forced to make substantial economic adjustments before they can use the euro and have to adopt to a plethora of EU laws, like cleaning up the environment. There will also be pressure on them to lend support to EU’s foreign and security policies despite many among them being pro-US.

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