The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the treaties governing the European Union. The Lisbon Treaty was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Treaty of European Union (more commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty) and the Treaty establishing the European Union (the Treaty of Rome). In this process, the Rome Treaty was renamed to the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
For detailed information about the Treaty of Lisbon and access to the full text, click here.
The text of the treaties are published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the official gazette of the EU. Other treaty series and commercial publications described below are also sources for the text of the EU treaties.
The founding treaties are frequently referred to as “primary legislation.” In contrast, “secondary legislation” refers to directives, regulations and other forms of law described later in the section on Legislation. To access the text of the treaties listed below, click here.
Following is a list of the founding treaties that provide the legal basis for the EU:
Consolidated versions of the treaties incorporating the changes through the Treaty of Nice are available in the Official Journal of the European Union:
The Treaty of Amsterdam renumbered the articles of the founding treaties. Citations to specific articles of the founding treaties prior to the ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 will be to the old numbering scheme of the treaty articles. For example, the article on the creation of the internal market is cited as Article 14 (ex Art. 7a). The ex number refers to the numerical sequence of the treaty articles prior to the Treaty of Amsterdam. A table of equivalences showing the correspondence between the old and new numbering scheme was published in the Official Journal on October 11, 1997.
The EU has grown since its founding by admitting additional nations. New members of the EU must sign and ratify an accession treaty in order to join the EU. To access the full text of these treaties, click here.
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