Wednesday 12 March 2008

Lisbon Strategy AND Lisbon Treaty

I'm confused.


OK, no comments from the back row -- I know that it's easy to confuse me. This is particularly noticeable when I'm trying to sort out information about, or emanating from, the European Commission (and all the other European political / non-department bodies).


Today it's the turn of Lisbon to confuse me.


Not the place itself, of course -- it's the habit that political bodies have of naming treaties and agreements by the name of the place in which the treaty or agreement was reached.


There's only one Treaty of Versailles (see Wikipedia entry here) but there's two Lisbons -- one strategy, one treaty.

I have commented on (mainly in ADSET's printed publication Members' Update), written about, studied and otherwise been involved with the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. If I'm writing "Lisbon" in my tags/index terms etc then it's going to be this Lisbon that I mean (usually).


For the general public however Lisbon is more likely to mean a treaty -- about which there has been a great deal of controversy. Is it, or isn't it, a constitution for Europe under another name?

I was, therefore, grateful to find an entry on intute: Social Sciences Law gateway which tells us where to find a Guide to the Treaty of Lisbon. It (PDF 28pp) is available from the Law Society's website.

The guide has chapters providing background information on the treaty, background to EU policies and procedures, a table setting out how the Treaty would change various aspects of legal practice including dispute resolution, family law and criminal law. There are sections on the UK perspective on the Treaty and a look at how the treaty affects the rights of EU citizens. Also included is a glossary of EU terms and a link to full text of the treaty.

And while I'm sending you to a PDF -- you are now using Foxit Reader, aren't you?
No commercial connextion here -- just an extremely satisfied customer.

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