Next July, Portugal undertakes the Presidency of the European Union. The purpose of this article is to anticipate the main challenges that the Portuguese presidency will face, rather than describing the exact content of its agenda. In the field of external relations, Portugal will try to promote the dialogue between Europe & the wider world through the Africa & Brazil summits. The negotiations of the Constitutional Treaty, Turkey's accession to the EU & the continuous enlargement process will be treated as critical issues to the future of the European project. Since the ED cannot be just a free trade area with a certain number of common policies, the Portuguese presidency is committed to the reinforcement of the social pillar of the Lisbon Strategy, in order to strengthen Europe's economic cohesion. Adapted from the source document.
This article analyses the amendments introduced by the Lisbon Treaty concerning foreign and defense policy, in the framework of a strategy to make Europe a global power. It starts by contextualizing this policy in the acting of the European Union, and then it reviews the main changes provided by the Treaty of Lisbon. Adapted from the source document.
The debate about NATO strategy is entering the decisive stage in the run-up to the Alliance's Summit, November in Lisbon. Portugal should try to incorporate its vision about Alliance's future in the strategic document namely its views on the transatlantic relations, on the NATO/EU partnership & on the strategic cooperation with Africa & Brazil, among others. Adapted from the source document.
The North Atlantic Treaty Council of Lisbon was essential for the evolution of the European defense effort. Assembled in the Portuguese capital, the Foreign Ministers of the Alliance took important decisions regarding the enlargement & the deepening of the political structure of NATO. Additionally they established the formula to integrate West Germany in the European defense system. Even though Portugal stood aside from this negotiation process, the developments in NATO allowed the Portuguese regime to consolidate its international position & to define its strategy regarding the European integration process & the transatlantic relations. Adapted from the source document.
After the Lisbon Summit of 2009, the whole matter of fundamental rights in the European Union has taken a new connotation. Local economic interests and social protests – in opposition to the "neoliberal agenda" of EU institutions – have played an important role in stopping the enforcement of the "Constitutional Treaty" and boosted an anti-Euro mobilization. In the meanwhile, the European bodies and transnational corporations have continued to settle a new and alternative basis for the integration. A radical shift can be observed, from the research of synthetic set of principles – as those established on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – to a deeply technical and detailed normative production. The regulation on safety and healthy workplaces is one of the best point of view to study this change. Far from calling into question the unbalanced positions between the parties in contemporary labour relationships, the European strategy for workers' protection move through procedural issues and voluntary obedience to the soft law instruments. In the past, the legal doctrine described the creation of a multilevel architecture of institutions, sometimes implemented in a top-down approach. Along with this, recently, it was implemented the establishment of common organizational standards associated to a specific system of corporate governance to pursue a better integration between business and fundamental rights. ; Após o Summit de Lisboa de 2009, toda a questão dos direitos fundamentais na União Europeia tomou uma nova conotação. Os interesses econômicos locais e os protestos sociais – em oposição a "agenda neoliberal" promovida pelas instituições europeias – têm desempenhado um papel importante em parar a execução do "Tratado Constitucional" e impulsionaram uma mobilização anti-Euro. No enquanto isso, os organismos europeus e as empresas transnacionais instalaram uma base nova e alternativa para a integração. Uma mudança radical pode ser observada, a partir da pesquisa de um conjunto (ainda) sintético de princípios – como os estabelecidos na Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais da União Europeia – para uma produção normativa profundamente técnica e detalhada. A regulação da segurança no lugar de trabalho é um dos melhores pontos de observação para estudar a transformação mencionada. Longe de pôr em causa as posições desequilibradas entre as partes nas relações de trabalho contemporâneas, a estratégia europeia para a proteção da saúde dos trabalhadores prefere as questões procedimentais e a adesão voluntária aos instrumentos de soft law. No passado, a doutrina jurídica descrevia a criação de uma arquitetura multi-nível de instituições, as vezes implementada por meio de uma abordagem de cima para baixo (top-down approach). Junto com isso, recentemente, teve a implementação de padrões organizacionais comuns para a criação de um sistema específico de governança corporativa, finalizado a buscar uma melhor integração entre os negócios e os direitos fundamentais.