The first workshop of the Project “Introduction to the Lisbon Treaty for the Members and Staff of the BiH Parliaments”

Lisabonski sporazum uvodi važne inovacije u način donošenja odluka u EU. Međutim, zbog širokog spektra domaćih političkih pitanja koja dominiraju u BiH, utjecaju Lisabonskog sporazuma na EU i na države potencijalne kandidate za članstvo u EU nije posvećeno dovoljno pažnje. Stoga je cilj ovog projekta da pruži detaljan pregled ključnih promjena koje su uvedene u načinu na koji funkcioniše EU kroz Lisabonski sporazum.

The Foreign Policy Initiative BH has begun with the implementation of the Project “Introduction to the Lisbon Treaty for the Members and Staff of the BiH Parliaments” financed by the British Embassy in Sarajevo. The first workshop was held on 30th and 31st of March 2011, on topic “Introduction to the Lisbon Treaty” where the participants of the workshop were Members of Parliament and expert staff of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, the Parliament of the Federation of BiH as well as the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. For this occasion, the FPI BH had prepared a Guide through the Lisbon Treaty and European integration of BiH, as well as an Address Book of the European integration.

The Lisbon Treaty introduces important innovations into decision-making process in the EU. However, due to wide spectrum of local political issues dominating in BiH, the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the EU and potential EU membership candidate states was not given sufficient attention. Therefore, it is the goal of this Project to offer detailed overview of key changes that were introduced through the Lisbon Treaty into the manner in which the EU functions.

For that purpose, four seminars/workshops are planned, which will encompass presentations on key areas of international development: widening of the field of the common decision making between the European Parliament and the Council; the new role of the state parliaments within the scope of the new provisions of the Treaty; the change in the manner of presiding over the EU with the creation of the permanent President of the EU; the new architecture of managing the EU which comes from the changed role of the High Representative and the established European External Action Service.