The Lisbon Treaty aims primarily to reform the institutions, not the policies, with the exeption of foreign policy. The presidents of the Council and the Commission with the double-hatted Hogh Representative for the CFSP/Vice President of the Commission will form a new EU "troika". The problem, however is that the Treaty does not provide well defined borders between the competences and the roles of these leading positions.
The President will play a hybrid role with elements both of rotation and permanence. In his view, the consequences of this new arrangement are largely unpredictable for the unity of a presidency will be undermined and its political responsibility diluted.
It was pointed out that the two most important changes related to the Commission from the failed draft Constitutional Treaty have been incorporated into the Lisbon Treaty. The first reduces the College in size to 2/3 of all member states by 2014, based on a 'strict equal rotation' principle. And in the second change, the Commission President will be elected by the EP, although the President was de facto elected in 2004, and the treaty simply formalises the status quo.

(source "CEPSNews" Januari 2008). ......................................................................

"FeelingEurope" was present at the presentation of the three Brussels-based think-tanks. That presentation was held in palais d'Egmont in Brussels (chair mr. H. Onno Ruding) in presence of about 250 participants. In fact there are two treaties: a Treaty on the EU, which contains most of the institutional provisions and a second one on the functioning of the Union. The three denk tanks held their presentation at the d'Egmont palace in Brussels (chair mr. H. Onno Ruding). Potential problems were highlighted and where possible, ways to avoid their negative effects were suggested. Seven main institutional and policy domains were analyzed. The success of institutional innovations depends also on the way in which the provisions are implemented.

The publication have been intensivly debated. The three institutes hope that the publication will find some resonance amoung political leaders and public opinion.