European Union (Amendment) Act 2008

Background

The European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (EUAA) was introduced as a precursor to the United Kingdom’s ratification of the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon. The Act received Royal Assent on 19 June 2008. As such, the EUAA 2008 made a series of amendments to existing domestic legislation concerning the recognition and ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, including modifications to the European Communities Act 1972 so as to include the Lisbon Treaty within the list of ‘Community Treaties’, as well as other amendments to the 1972 Act designed to give the Lisbon Treaty legal force within the United Kingdom. The principal effect of the EUAA 2008 was, therefore, to bring the Lisbon Treaty within the domestic legal framework of the 1972 Act, through which applicable EU law took priority over conflicting domestic legislation. Section 2 expressly excluded provisions concerning the common foreign and security policy from the Treaty’s inclusion in the 1972 Act.

Section 4 approved the Treaty for the purposes of section 12 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002. As originally enacted, section 5 required an Act of Parliament before ratification of a treaty amending the EU Treaties under the ordinary revision procedure, while section 6 required approval by both Houses before ministers could support specified EU decisions altering the Treaties or their decision-making procedures.

The Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon is an international agreement between member states of the European Union, signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 and in force from 1 December 2009, which amends the two treaties which form the constitutional foundation of the Union; the Treaty of Maastricht (‘Treaty on European Union’) and the Treaty of Rome, as subsequently amended and renamed the ‘Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’. The Lisbon Treaty also modifies some of the ancillary treaty protocols that attach to the Maastricht and Rome accords.

Purpose of the Treaty

As is indicated above, the Treaty of Lisbon is primarily an ‘amending’ Treaty, in that it seeks to streamline the operation of existing treaty provisions and the operation of important European Union institutions, such as the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament; it is not intended to be read as a fully autonomous text. The Treaty of Lisbon itself gives its stated aim as being to “complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam [1997] and by the Treaty of Nice [2001] with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action”.

The Treaty also gave the Union legal personality and gave the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights the same legal value as the Treaties. The Charter binds EU institutions and member states when they act within the scope of EU law; it does not extend the Union’s competences. Lisbon also extended qualified majority voting in the Council and strengthened national parliaments’ role in monitoring subsidiarity.

Notable Institutional Amendments

European Central Bank

Under the Treaty of Lisbon the European Central Bank is elevated to the status of a full institution, with the European Council being given the right to appoint its President and the other members of its Executive Board by the mechanism of a qualified majority vote. Appointments are made on a recommendation from the Council, after consultation with the European Parliament and the ECB’s Governing Council, for a non-renewable eight-year term (Article 283 TFEU).

European Council

The European Council is also elevated to the status of a full institution and is separated in its function from the Council of Ministers and the procedure for appointing a President is set out, as well as limitations on reappointment. Its President is elected by qualified majority for two and a half years, renewable once. The Treaty of Lisbon provides that the European Council is to set the general political directions and priorities of the Union, but gives it no legislative functions. It is also expected to engage in practical crisis management. The European Council also plays a key role in appointing members to other important Union institutions, including the Commission, members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

European Commission

Formerly the Commission of the European Communities, the European Commission was to be reduced from one Commissioner per member state to a membership corresponding to two thirds of the number of member states from 1 November 2014, with a system of equal rotation over time. Article 17(5) TEU allowed the European Council unanimously to alter that number. Decision 2013/272/EU retained one member per member state, including the Commission President and the High Representative, so the proposed reduction did not take effect.

The European Parliament

The legislative power of the European Parliament is enhanced by the Treaty of Lisbon, which extends the co-decision procedure exercisable with the Council of Ministers to include most policy areas. The procedure itself is also modified and renamed as ‘ordinary legislative procedure’. In those areas which require ‘special legislative procedures’, the respective powers depend on the applicable Treaty provision. Where Parliament’s consent is required, it may approve or reject the measure; where it is consulted, its opinion must be sought but does not bind the Council. In certain cases Parliament adopts legislation with the Council’s participation.

The Treaty also alters the manner in which MEP seats are allocated between member states. Article 14 TEU sets a maximum of 750 members plus the President, with between six and 96 seats per member state. The European Council determines the composition unanimously, on the initiative of the European Parliament and with its consent. Seats must be degressively proportional to the population of each member state.

Article 50

Perhaps the most important amendment introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, particularly in light of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal, is the procedural process for leaving the European Union set out in Article 50.

Prior to the enactment of Article 50 the Treaties of Rome and Maastricht made no provision for the voluntary withdrawal of a member state from the European Union, which was considered previously to be legally possible but fraught with technical difficulties. Article 50 now enshrines the ability of member states to exit the Union by providing that “Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.”

This unilateral right to withdraw was invoked by the United Kingdom on 29 March 2017 following the so-called ‘Brexit’ referendum of 23 June 2016. The United Kingdom left the European Union at 11 pm UK time on 31 January 2020, and the transition period ended at 11 pm on 31 December 2020.

Under Article 50, a member state notifies the European Council of its intention to withdraw. A withdrawal agreement is concluded by the Council by qualified majority after obtaining the European Parliament’s consent. The Treaties cease to apply when that agreement enters into force or, failing that, two years after notification, unless the European Council unanimously agrees an extension with the state concerned. A state seeking to rejoin after withdrawal must use the accession procedure in Article 49.

In Wightman v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Case C-621/18, EU:C:2018:999), the Court of Justice confirmed that notification can be revoked unilaterally before a withdrawal agreement enters into force or the two-year period, as extended, expires. Revocation must follow the state’s constitutional requirements and be unequivocal, unconditional and notified in writing to the European Council, confirming continued membership on unchanged terms.

2026 update

The European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 gave effect in UK law to the Treaty of Lisbon by amending the European Communities Act 1972, but that domestic framework has since been dismantled following Brexit. The 1972 Act was repealed on 31 January 2020, with its effects temporarily saved, subject to modifications, until 11 pm on 31 December 2020. Section 6 of the 2008 Act had been repealed in 2011 and sections 4 and 5 in 2018; its remaining provisions were repealed at the end of the transition period. Regulations 8 and 9 of SI 2020/1622 nevertheless preserve specified interpretative effects of section 3 and the effect of earlier amendments to continuing enactments. The Lisbon amendments remain part of the EU’s constitutional framework, while the UK’s continuing obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement have domestic effect through section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

Last updated: 11 November 2026