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Wed 12 Dec 2009Lisbon Treaty comes into legal force across EU
EU LEADERS have predicted that the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty will bring the bloc into a period of stability after years of discord over the reform project.
As the treaty took legal effect yesterday, former Belgian premier Herman van Rompuy became the first permanent president of the European Council and former EU trade commissioner Catherine Ashton took office as EU foreign policy chief. Designed to make the EU more efficient following its expansion in 2004 and more democratic, the treaty has been in gestation for eight years. It largely replaced a draft EU constitution rejected in 2005 by voters in France and the Netherlands.
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