The Council of Ministers of the European Union After the Lisbon Treaty

The Treaty of Lisbon has brought remarkable changes and innovations to the European Union. As far as the Council of Ministers of the European Union (“the Council” hereinafter) is concerned, there are two significant innovations: double qualified majority voting and new rotating Presidency scheme, which are considered to make the working of the Council more efficiently, stably and consistently. With the modification relating to other key institutions, the Commission and the European Parliament, and with certain procedures being re-codified, the power of the Council varies accordingly, where the inter-institutional balance counts for more research. As the Council is one of the co-legislatures of the Union, the legislative function of it would be probably influenced, positively or negatively, by the internal innovations and the inter-institutional re-balance. Has the legislative function of the Council been reinforced or not? How could the Council better reach its functional goal designed by the Treaties’ drafter? How to evaluate the Council’s evolution after Lisbon Treaty in the light of European integration? This thesis is attempting to find the answers by analyzing two main internal innovations and inter-institutional re-balance thereinafter.

Towards Europe 2050: the role of institutions, EU research, and citizens for climate justice. The urban challenge in Amsterdam, Bilbao, Freiburg, and Lisbon.

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, and in 2023 the average global temperature reached new records, prompting the UN Secretary General to declare that 'the era of global warming is over, and the era of global boiling has arrived'. In this context, urban areas play a key role, and can be considered a bottleneck of the climate crisis. The European Commission is investing billions of euros in research and innovation projects in urban areas, while the European Green Deal strategy has the ambition of making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent on the planet by 2050. However, studies and research show that the causes of the climate crisis are rooted in an economic system that produces profound inequalities, and the very solutions to address the consequences of global warming risk deepening them. In this context, the role of cities is not only to decarbonise their urban fabric, but to build solutions to the social challenge posed by the climate crisis, promoting paradigm shifts capable of producing trajectories towards so-called 'climate justice'. This research analyses, through a holistic view, European policies in these fields, and delves into the actions and projects of four European cities - Amsterdam, Bilbao, Freiburg, and Lisbon - through a qualitative approach aimed at identifying strengths and contradictions of strategies to tackle the climate crisis. Delving into the collective dynamics and social impacts of the actions promoted, the research proposes a comprehensive view of the role that urban areas can play not only in decarbonising society, but in promoting a paradigm shift capable of addressing the economic causes and social consequences of the climate crisis.