Structure of the treaties governing the EU

Effect of the Treaty of Lisbon

Since ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon the EU is now governed by 2 treaties:

• The Treaty on European Union – that is the Maastricht Treaty as amended by the Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon treaties
• The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU – that is the Treaty of Rome as amended by all the subsequent treaties including the Lisbon Treaty

Pillar structure

The EU has had 3 pillars although the term “pillar” is not used in the treaties. The 3 pillars are:

• First Pillar: The European Community which is broadly the original institution. It covers a range of areas including social and employment policies, consumer, environment, competition and internal market laws and policies. These are sometimes called "Community" activities.
• Second Pillar: Common Foreign and Security Policy – this deals with security and defence policies and foreign policy generally.
• Third Pillar: Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters – this is more commonly known as Justice and Home Affairs and covers areas such as law enforcement, asylum seekers and refugees and immigration (some of these issues are also in the First Pillar).

The 3 pillars together constitute the European Union. From a strictly legal perspective, the European Community (EC) refers to the First Pillar only while the European Union (EU) refers to all 3 pillars. However, in practice the terms tend to be used interchangeably. There are significant differences between how decisions are made in the First Pillar and in the others.

The Treaty of Lisbon abolishes this structure. Instead, the European Union (EU) will be the only title.