The entrance into force of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean important institutional changes which will have an impact on the tasks scope of the Presidency and the way they are implemented. This reform means an essential quality change in the leadership system of the EU. The most significant modifications introduce:
1. The Office of the Permanent President of the European Council
2. The Office of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The amendments to the Treaty of Lisbon will effect several very important aspects of the objectives pursued by the Presidency:
1. chairing the works of the European Council, EU Council and its ancillary bodies,
2. representing the EU on the international arena,
3. cooperation in the trio framework;
The Office of the Permanent President of the European Council shall replace the rotating Presidency in the European Council. The competences of the President of the European Council shall comprise chairing the European Council and coordinating its work, ensuring the preparation and continuity of the workings in the European Council. The President will cooperate with the President of the European Commission and based on the workings of the General Affairs Council, he/she will support that the consistency and consensus in the European Council is reached. His duty will be also to submit the report to the European Parliament from each meeting of the European Council. As a consequence of adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon the Polish Presidency will not comprise the level of the European Council and will focus on the Council of the European Union groups (except for the Foreign Affairs Council) and its ancillary bodies. This change plays a significant role for the practical functioning of the Polish Presidency in 2011. In view of establishment of the Office of the Permanent President of the European Council, the involvement of the Prime Minister in the Presidency success will decline than in the current system because he/she will no longer be responsible for the negotiations at European Council level and the final conclusions. However his/her involvement will be indispensable regarding the coordination of the Polish Presidency as a whole and the consistency of actions of the Ministers who preside over the sectoral framework Councils, the work effects of which will be forwarded to the European Council level as the conclusions input. The necessity to elaborate a formula ensuring a permanent presence of the Prime Minister in this process will follow. The entrance into force of the Treaty will mean the need to cooperate more intensively with the Permanent President of the European Council from the beginning of his/her office term in order to ensure an effective functioning of the Polish Presidency, also in view of the decisions taken within the European Council, in particular as regards the priorities of the Polish Presidency.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon also the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy is to be appointed. Being at the same time a vice - President of the European Commission, responsible for the internal relations and the “coordination of other external activities of the Union”, he/she will conduct the foreign policy of the Union and represent the EU externally. Moreover, the High Representative will chair the Foreign Affairs Council (established on the basis of the division, made in the Treaty of Lisbon, of the current General Affairs and External Relations Council), which is a major modification of the present system where all the groups of the EU Council are chaired by the representative at the ministerial level of the state holding the Presidency in the term concerned. According to the existing practice, the High Representative relatively rarely was given a political mandate to act towards third countries. Frequently, its own prerogatives in this respect, were jealously guarded by the Presidency. In view of the evolution of the role of the Presidency, the most significant is the provision on the exclusion of the External Affairs Council from the rotating Presidency system and entrusting to the High Representative the task of presiding over it and coordinating the workings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States. This change will have both the practical and political significance to the rotating Presidency and thus the preparation process itself. It will have an impact on the limitation of the substantive scope of the issues "served" by the Presidency in the Council as well as very practical issues (less meetings, dossiers, experts required etc., diminished role of the foreign diplomatic missions of Poland). However the Treaty does not provide any regulation (like the present treaties) on the question of chairing the working groups of the Council. Therefore, the preparation of the Polish Presidency should concentrate to ensure the service of the current number of the working groups, as it is the case according to the provisions in force. In the case of the entrance into force of the Treaty of Lisbon this number may be limited.
An important innovation is the idea, provided by the Treaty of Lisbon, to combine the Presidency into a group of three states. It would mean that the influence on the Presidency is prolonged over the half-year term. The establishment of the group Presidency means that three Member States (trio), over the 18-monts period, hold the Presidency based on the common programme and support each other. The main innovation of the Treaty on this point is the introduction of the possibility to adopt alternative arrangements, among the trio states, concerning the division of the workings in the group in the 18-month period. As regards to the obligations of the Member States in the trio, the Treaty indicates that other members of the group are obliged to support the presiding state in all its duties according to the common programme. The consequence of the new provisions will be even closer cooperation than before with the partner states in the whole 18-month period.
Referring to programming of the EU workings, the innovation of the Treaty of Lisbon is putting more pressure on the interinstitutional agreement, recognizing thus the aspirations of the European Parliament to co-decide on the EU agenda and granting new competences to the European Commission and the European Council. At the present stage many questions on this point remain open and will require clarification before the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force. Therefore, in the context of the Presidency, the most important thing is that Poland makes sure that in the programming documents, which will be drafted according to the provisions of the Treaty, the priority issues for our Presidency are included.