What Lisbon lacks

After the Czech president Václav Klaus signed the Treaty of Lisbon on Tuesday, the satirical weekly Bakchich turns a critical eye to the pending implementation of the European Reform Treaty: "Certain signs don't lie. The Treaty of Lisbon made the institution of a European president ... and a European minister of foreign affairs the symbol of a visible executive worthy of the Western democracies it embodies. The probable nomination of Belgian Prime Minister [Herman] Van Rompuy as head of the European Hydra shows that the member states prefer a moderator to a leader ... . Similarly the term 'foreign minister' has been dropped in favour of 'high representative', which is more consensual and stresses that member states continue to exercise decision-making sovereignty. That is, if the logic of nations and governments continues to impose itself as the norm of Europe's political construction."

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