The Lisbon Treaty and transatlantic dialogue: significance and inefficiencies

Abstract

Enhanced institutional structures do not always entail increased efficiency in diplomatic interlocution. Both exogenous and endogenous factors may hinder smooth interaction between international actors, notwithstanding reinforced diplomatic frameworks. An analysis of waning political dialogue, between the US and the EU, from the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty to the Trump administration, supports empirically this consideration. In spite of the EU having in place, during that period, the most extensive array of foreign policy institutions in its history, a decline in transatlantic political relations was not averted. What is more, the decline accelerated after the creation of such institutions by the Lisbon Treaty. Over thirteen years after the entry into force of the treaty, an assessment of its effectiveness within transatlantic dialogue is timely and necessary. What did the Lisbon Treaty, from its entry into force to the Trump administration, mean for EU-US political dialogue? Why was the Lisbon Treaty ineffective in strengthening EU-US political relations, and avoiding ever-increasing transatlantic rifts throughout the different crises of that period?