Does the Lisbon Treaty create a European Super-State?
No, in no way. The Treaty is an international treaty which has been agreed and ratified by each and every Member State of the EU. Member States have agreed to share some of their sovereignty but the EU’s powers come entirely from Member States. The Union has no more and no less than the powers conferred on it. This means that the Union can only act in areas where the Lisbon Treaty, approved by all Member States, has assigned it powers to do so. The Treaty also introduces a major innovation in terms of transparency compared with the current system, namely a classification of Union powers. So the Treaty makes clearer that the Union has exclusive responsibility in areas such as the customs union; monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro and the common commercial policy. For many other important areas, such as the environment, consumer protection, transport, energy and the internal market, the Union shares responsibility with the Member States. For other areas as su
