EU external relations law and policy in the post-Lisbon era

The European Union (EU) institutions and Member States could be forgiven for giving a collective sigh of relief on 1 December 2009 when the decade-long process of constitutional reform of the EU finally reached its end. The entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, born from the ashes of the abandoned Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, was a pivotal moment in the history of the European integration process and its external relations. But, as with any major constitutional change, its entry into force posed as many questions for the future of the EU as it gave responses to the need for the EU to have a new Treaty in the first place. If the political elites responsible for the text of the Treaty are allowed their sigh of relief, then the citizens of Europe (if not the world) should also be permitted to wonder why the Treaty took so long and what the point of it all was.