Legislation in focus
New consolidated versions of EU Treaties, the EU Charter of Fundamental rights and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community have been published this month. Follow the links below to access them:
EU Treaties — 2016 Consolidated version
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
Euratom Treaty — 2016 Consolidated version
These new consolidated versions of the Treaties contain several amendments adopted after the Lisbon Treaty. Among them are amended provisions of the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the status with regard to the European Union of the island of Saint-Barthélemy and of Mayotte, the addition of paragraph 3 to Article 136 TFEU in relation to a stability mechanism for Member States whose currency is the euro and changes brought about by the Act of Accession of the Republic of Croatia.
The origin of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is in the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community signed in Rome in 1957. The EEC Treaty provided for the establishment of a common market, a customs union and common policies, created the Community's institutions and described their powers and decision-making methods. The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was signed on the same day. The main aims of the Euratom Treaty have been to coordinate the Member States' research programmes for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to ensure the security of atomic energy supply within the framework of a centralised monitoring system.
Throughout the years both treaties underwent changes, mainly via amending and accession treaties. The next important treaty, the Treaty on European Union, known as the "Maastricht Treaty" (1992) institutionalised cooperation in the fields of foreign policy, defence, police and justice together under one umbrella, the European Union. Furthermore, this Treaty created an economic and monetary union, put in place new Community policies (education, culture) and increased the powers of the European Parliament (codecision procedure). The EEC was renamed as the European Community (EC). Further changes to the Rome Treaties and the Treaty on European Union came with the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997), the Treaty of Nice (2001) and the Treaty of Lisbon (2007). The Treaty of Lisbon made sweeping reforms. It brought an end to the European Community, abolished the former EU architecture and made a new allocation of competencies between the EU and the Member States. The way in which the European institutions function and the decision-making process were also subject to modifications. The aim was to improve the way in which decisions are made in an enlarged Union of (at that time 27 Member States). The Treaty of Lisbon also reformed several of the EU’s internal and external policies. The EC Treaty was renamed as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
| 
