The Lisbon Treaty and the Regional Dimension of the European Union

The Lisbon Treaty which entered into force on December 1, 2009 introduced into the EU law a number of novelties aimed at strengthening the regional dimension of EU's functioning. This paper aims at both giving a comprehensive analysis of changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in the functioning of the link between the EU and its regions and matching the "letter" of the Treaty with post-Lisbon political realities. Its primary sources are the text of the Treaty, reports of the European Parliament, European Commission and the Committee of the Regions on the problems of economic, social and territorial cohesion and multi-level governance, and independent expert evaluations. First and foremost, the Lisbon Treaty has reflected a new approach to the EU's cohesion policy. The very notion of cohesion was expanded: the earlier concept of "economic and social cohesion" was replaced with the "economic, social and territorial cohesion". The categories of regions in need of support were defined more precisely. But the formula of "territorial cohesion" requires decoding which the Treaty does not provide. The objectives set under the umbrella concept of "territorial cohesion" turned out to be largely declarative and devoid of concrete indicators allowing for the appraisal of progress. The Lisbon Treaty has introduced a number of provisions opening new opportunities for regions' taking part in EU decision-making and defending their interests. The principle of subsidiarity was extended to cover the regional and local levels. The principle of regional and local autonomy was enshrined in the Treaty. The Treaty has strengthened the role of national parliaments in the EU legislative process. They received the right to monitor the application of the principle of subsidiarity through a new "early warning system". In the countries where upper chambers of parliaments represent federation members or territorial units the "early warning system" opens for the regions a direct opportunity to influence the EU legislative process. The Lisbon Treaty expanded the competences of the Committee of the Regions that for the first time received the right to appeal to the Court of Justice. The author concludes that the novelties introduced by the Lisbon Treaty into the sphere of regional involvement in EU policies are modest if compared with the projects that the Committee of the Regions and "strong" regions had put forward when the Treaty was under preparation. However, these novelties can hardly be dismissed as insignificant. In the long term they are likely to bring about the consolidation of the regional dimension of EU's political space through a stronger role of the Committee of the Regions, intensified interactions between national parliaments and EU institutions and the development of new mechanisms of dialogue between supranational institutions, member states and regional authorities.

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