EU Leaders Sign New Treaty

But some clamor for referendum
By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2007 9:58 AM CST
EU Leaders Sign New Treaty
Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, left, and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, right, sign the EU's Lisbon Treaty during a ceremony in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. The Lisbon Treaty, endorsed by the EU's 27 leaders two months ago after years of unease among Europeans about how much sovereignty...   (Associated Press)

Two years after the French and Dutch rejected the European Constitution, leaders of the 27 EU nations are signing the new Treaty of Lisbon today, aimed to strengthen union decision-making. Unlike the previous document, this one does not require nation-by-nation referendums to be ratified. That's caused a tremendous political headache for Gordon Brown, who no-showed today's photo opportunity, to the consternation of EU bigwigs, says AFP.

Only Ireland is offering a referendum to its citizens, and only because it is constitutionally obligated to do so. The new treaty drops quasi-national elements of the constitution, such as an EU anthem and flag, but retains a permanent EU president, rather than the current rotating leadership, and a foreign policy chief. It trims the number of decisions that  require unanimous support, reducing national vetoes. (More Gordon Brown stories.)

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