[FR] The Treaty of Lisbon: a new lease of life for the Union?

The Treaty of Lisbon will be signed by the 27 Member States on 13 December. This is a valuable step forward. However, it will still have to be ratified by all of them, which is no mere formality because, as the history of European integration has shown time and again, the ratification of treaties is never a foregone conclusion. We saw this in 1954 with the European Defence Community Treaty, which had only six signatories. So with 27… Since we cannot predict the outcome of this long obstacle course that is the ratification process, we can at least take a look at the text submitted for ratification.
There are several ways to judge a treaty. For example, we can compare it to its predecessors, or assess its form, structure, clarity and inspiration, or even try to anticipate its effects… The list is far from exhaustive, but these three perspectives provide an initial assessment.