European Institute

Christian Leffler, Head of Cabinet for Margot Wallström, European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communications Strategy, discussed the progress made on the EU Reform Treaty at the recent summit in Lisbon and assessed the importance of the treaty in the context of European integration. Changes affected by the treaty would include a new voting procedure aimed at ensuring transparency, and an increase in the length of the presidency term from six months to two and one half years. He was optimistic that once the treaty is signed in Lisbon in December, it will be ratified by June 2009. The discussion was hosted by Blank Rome Government Relations LLC.