【明報專訊】On 13 December 2007, the 27 member states of the European Union (EU, 歐盟) ratified (批准) the Treaty of Lisbon (《里斯本條約》) in the capital of Portugal. Though it represents an effort to make the EU more transparent and democratic, the treaty has failed to save the union from the bitter arguments that are threatening its survival.
What is the Treaty of Lisbon?
The Treaty of Lisbon is an international agreement that amends the Maastricht Treaty (《馬城條約》) and the Treaty of Rome (《羅馬條約》), both of which formed the constitutional basis of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon changes the voting mechanism within the EU, expands the power of the European Parliament (歐洲議會), creates the position of the President of the European Council (歐洲理事會主席) and introduces a mechanism for member states' withdrawal from the EU. The treaty came into force on 1 December 2009.
◆Disagreements within the EU
The establishment of the EU aimed at uniting European countries. However, their solidarity (團結) has been put to the test by a number of challenges, which include the European debt crisis and Britain's possible withdrawal from the EU.
Challenge 1: The European debt crisis
The European debt crisis began around 2009. EU member states such as Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, which had seen rapid economic growth in the 2000s, were found one after another to be saddled with huge national debts (debts owed by their governments). Since all these countries had all adopted the Euro as the currency, other EU member states made efforts to prop up their finances. Bailout (緊急財政援助) plans have been offered but they have often come with harsh conditions. Governments receiving these financial lifelines are required to take actions, called austerity measures (緊縮政策), to slash its public spending.
There is a lot of controversy over such austerity measures. Some economists have pointed out such measures make it even harder for countries like Greece to recover. Greece's economy continues to shrink as its government cuts its spending. Nevertheless, stronger EU member states like Germany have insisted that countries receiving financial assistance should pursue the economy drive. This has led to discontent among people in countries that have been bailed out.
One of the EU member states, Greece has been hardest hit by the debt crisis. In January 2015 Syriza (the Coalition of the Radical Left) won the parliamentary election on its anti-austerity platform, and its leader Alexis Tsipras (齊普拉斯) became Greek Prime Minister. Tsipras called for a referendum in June to decide whether the Greek people should accept the conditions of a bailout plan offered by the European Commission (歐盟委員會), the International Monetary Fund (國際貨幣基金組織) and the European Central Bank (歐洲央行). The bailout conditions were rejected by a majority of over 61% to 39%. But the Tsipras administration and the country's creditors agreed on another bailout afterwards, imposing further spending cuts on the country to avoid bankruptcy and exit from the eurozone (歐元區). Accused of betraying the voters, Tsipras resigned as prime minister and called for a snap election of which he got re-elected.
Challenge 2: Britain vs. EU
The European debt crisis has disillusioned many British people though Britain has not adopted the Euro as its currency. Riding a wave of scepticism (懷疑態度) about the EU, the Conservative Party, led by the incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron, won the general election in 2015 on his pledge that he would hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership earliest in 2016. Analysts believe that Britain's withdrawal will have catastrophic (災難性) consequences for the union.
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