October 20, 2007: Thursday's successful late night bargaining session in Lisbon, par for the course at EU summit meetings, is being hailed as the breakthrough that will end the EU state of limbo that has existed since the failed summit meeting in Nice in December 2000. The Nice summit was supposed to lay the groundwork for streamlined decision-making in an enlarged European Union. However, EU leaders were unable to reach agreement in Nice, leading to the proposed EU constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums held in the spring of 2005.

EU leaders breathed a sigh of relief when the summit ended successfully, with Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates and German chancellor Merkel celebrating the deal. Chancellor Merkel had laid the groundwork for the new treaty during the six month German EU presidency that ended on June 30, 2007. "After all the political discussions, this is a great success," Merkel said. In her opinion, the treaty will help the EU function more efficiently as a block of nations and as a world power.

Thurday's late-night meeting satisfied the last-minute holdouts, notably Poland. However, despite the progress made in Lisbon, the reform treaty will not result in a homogeneous European Union akin to a "United States of Europe".

The biggest change in EU procedures is the new system of voting introduced by the reform treaty. Instead of the unanimous decision currently required within the EU council of ministers, a "double majority" procedure will be used. A minimum of 55 percent of EU member states (currently at least 15 of the EU's 27 member countries) comprising at least 65 percent of the EU's total population will suffice for new EU legislation to be passed. The new voting system will be introduced in 2014, with a transitional phase lasting until 2017 at Poland's request. However, even after 2017 small groups of states may delay EU decisions if the margin of approval under the new "double majority" system is narrow. The delay can then only be overturned by a unanimous vote. Adding this so-called "Ioannina clause" (named after the Greek city where it was first agreed upon) as a protocol note to the treaty's text was declared a victory for Poland by Polish president Lech Kaczynski: "Poland got everything it wanted."

The areas of EU jurisdiction where the "double majority" voting system applies is being expanded to include justice and police affairs. However, Britain and Ireland had already secured the option of applying EU decisions locally as they see fit, but without the right to impede progress in these areas among their EU partners. The precedent set by this allowance is similar to the Schengen treaty on common internal borders and the common European currency, the euro, where EU members have the option to participate. During the German presidency, chancellor Merkel called for the establishment of a European Union military force. Although development of the idea will likely take years, is this be another area where EU members will participate on a voluntary basis?

The new treaty also introduces the option for a member country to leave the European Union, under conditions that would be negotiated with the remaining EU members. Getting out of the EU, then, will not be a unilateral decision.

With Britain, France and the Netherlands already indicating that the Lisbon treaty will be approved by their respective parliaments instead of by national referendum, ratification of the treaty is expected by the spring of 2009.