It looks like the Lisbon Treaty will soon be ratified by all the EU members. It is pretty much the same thing as the European Constitution they tried to get ratified a few years ago. They just watered it down a little and changed the name.
One of the greatest thing about this is that it gives the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights the same status as EU treaties (basically constitutional status) which gives the European Court of Justice the authority to make sure that member states don't violate their peoples fundamental rights. The same way the Supreme Court does in the US.
I am a big believer in the idea of guaranteeing individuals freedoms in a constitution and having a constitutional court to make sure they aren't violated. Something that is not the case in many European countries. Here in Sweden for example we have a very nice constitution but no court that makes sure it's followed, its basically up to the politicians to decide if their actions are constitutional. Needles to say I think the Charter would be good for us.
Now Im sorta annoyed with three countries, Britain, Poland and now also the Czechs. They go along with everything in the Lisbon Treaty except the part about guaranteeing their citizens their fundamental rights, they have somehow gotten the ok to opt out. They all seem to have their own reasons, the British fearing it could give workers more rights, the Poles fearing it could be interpreted to give homosexuals rights, and the Czechs seem to not want to give Germans rights. But this creates the weird situation where some European citizens are guaranteed fundamental rights while others arent. It risks hurting the whole concept constitutional rights.
