Lisbon pact failing to lift the E.U. on global stage

New York Times: “Three months after the European Union introduced a new rule book that was supposed to elevate its status on the global stage, an awkward question is unavoidably being asked within the bloc: Has the Lisbon Treaty actually made things worse?”
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(2.19.2009) AP: “The European Union has turned into an undemocratic and elitist project comparable to the Communist dictatorships of eastern Europe that forbade alternative thinking, Czech President Vaclav Klaus told the European Parliament on Thursday.”