Is the principle of coherence maintained in the Lisbon Treaty?
The principle of coherence has been introduced by the Maastricht Treaty (Title XVII, Article 130v) and is maintained also in the Lisbon Treaty (Article 208 TFEU). This principle obliges the European Union to ensure that its internal and external policies with an impact on developing countries are coherent with EU development objectives. The article on development co-operation (Article 208 TFEU) has the eradication of poverty as the overarching objective. This means that EU international trade or agricultural policies cannot be contrary to development policy goals such as the eradication of poverty, but must be in line with and even promote it.
