After Lisbon: A More Political European Union

Abstract

This article argues that with the full implementation of the Lisbon Treaty - a process due to unfold over the next decade - the EU will become more politically integrated. It develops a model to determine degrees of EU political integration, asserting that the degree of integration is determined by the amount of individual member-state control in the decision-making process. It concerns policy areas of a political character with control being defined as the ability of individual member states to alter the outcome of the decision-making process. For the purpose of gauging control, the developed model outlines three ‘decision-making settings', which this article then uses to demonstrate that it is through the introduction of institutional changes that the fully implemented Lisbon Treaty increases EU political integration.