The successful conclusion to the Intergovernmental Conference on the European Constitutional Treaty means that negotiations on the next financial framework for the enlarged European Union - the Financial Perspective or Agenda 2007 - constitute the next major area of discussion within the EU....

In Lisbon back in March 2000, the EU heads of state and government undertook to pursue the strategic objective of turning the Union into 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world' by 2010. The imminent mid-term review of the Lisbon Process constitutes an opportunity...

By reaching a political consensus on a new Financial Framework in mid-December 2005, at best the European Union can be said to have finally struck a deal and demonstrated its ability to act. However, the compromise reached by the European heads of state and government by no means marks the end...

In its judgment of 30 June 2009, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), based in Karlsruhe, coupled its endorsement of the Treaty of Lisbon with the demand that the rights of the Bundestag and Bundesrat to participate in the further development of the European...