The word “historic” is often over-used. Yet, 1 December 2009 will go down in the history of the European Union as the day the Lisbon Treaty came into force, ending nearly a decade of internal discussions. The Treaty represents an increase in democracy in the European Union and gives a huge boost to the powers of the European Parliament. There is almost a doubling of the legislative and budgetary power of the Parliament. One key area of increased power is the Common Agricultural Policy. Here MEPs will for the first time co-decide with national ministers on both agricultural law and agricultural spending – the latter accounting for almost 40 per cent of the EU budget. The same applies to the EU fisheries policy.

The European Parliament will also co-decide with national ministers in the important spheres of justice and home affairs (immigration and asylum, including conditions for the reception of applicants) and international trade policy. MEPs will have an equal say with ministers on the way all the EU’s structural funds are spent. This increase in European Parliament power builds on the fact that the Parliament already enjoys co-decision with the Council of Ministers in many existing fields – notably the EU’s single market, as well as environment, transport, employment and development policy.

The Treaty changes for the better the way our continent is governed, enhancing both citizens’ and national parliaments’ influence on the way the European Union operates.

The Lisbon Treaty gives people more of a direct say in European Union decision-making. For example, the Treaty creates the ‘European citizens’ initiative’, which enables one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of member states to call directly on the European Commission to bring forward a legislative proposal in any area of EU competence. This sort of direct participation should lead to greater engagement with the increasingly influential European institutions. The EU is a Europe based on certain values, notably freedom and solidarity. The Treaty promotes the Union’s values, introducing the Charter of Fundamental Rights into European primary law, so ensuring better protection of European citizens. The Charter is a guarantee that Union institutions and law cannot violate basic standards of human rights – European institutions will have to respect them. The European Parliament fully supports the Charter, even if the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic have all negotiated opt-outs, demonstrating the EU’s ability to apply flexible arrangements and to respect the sensitivities of individual member states.

Our European Union, of almost 500 million people, will have an improved system of democratic accountability, whereby any legislation will be subject to the prior scrutiny of national parliaments and then the double approval of the Council of Ministers, composed of ministers accountable to those very same national parliaments, and the European Parliament, directly elected by citizens to represent them at European level. This is a level of scrutiny that exists in no other international structure – scrutiny that should make the EU more transparent and accountable to Europe’s citizens.

The Lisbon Treaty enables Europe to take its responsibilities in the world more seriously. The EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy (and I am happy it is a woman, as I had called for), served by a newly developed European External Action Service, will provide a clear voice for the Union in the world. Baroness Cathy Ashton, as Vice-President of the European Commission, will face a hearing in the European Parliament during the second week of January to assess her suitability for her new post. I am convinced that this new voice, supported by a strong European External Action Service, bringing together European expertise in intergovernmental diplomacy with our Community competences, can offer a step change in the effectiveness of our foreign policy. With a growing number of EU crisis management missions around the world, the European Parliament will hold Baroness Ashton responsible for transparency and accountability, as it is our duty to do.

The EU’s external action is closely linked to energy supply and security. A whole new chapter on energy policy, including solidarity in energy supply, which is of concern to so many Europeans, is introduced in the Lisbon Treaty. The goals of EU policy are crystal clear, namely promoting the internal energy market, promoting energy interconnections and guaranteeing supply. The Treaty sets the foundations for a much-needed common EU energy policy – what I would call a ‘European Energy Community’.

Last January witnessed the eruption of a Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute that deprived a number of Central and Eastern European countries, (especially Bulgaria and Slovakia) of gas supplies for two weeks in the middle of winter. We saw what the lack of a proper Union policy can mean. It was, in some ways, a re-run of a similar case in January 2006. The developments in energy policy provided by the Treaty are therefore significant, necessary and are close to my heart. Europeans may not understand all the intricacies of geopolitics but they do understand when the heating is turned off in their homes, their hospitals and their schools. The Lisbon Treaty is not an end in itself, nor is it perfect; it is an improved set of rules to develop EU policy. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the democratic changes in Central and Eastern Europe, and as the first President of the European Parliament from this part of our continent, I am proud to say that we now have a set of democratic and efficient rules capable of providing answers for 500 million people in 27 (possibly 28 or 29 soon) member states.

Jerzy Buzek is President of the European Parliament