The Lisbon Treaty also made the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding, though it remains a separate document.

The member states share a "society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail".

Point 5 states the EU shall promote its values, contribute to eradicating poverty, observe human rights and respect the charter of the United Nations.

The final sixth point states that the EU shall pursue these objectives by "appropriate means" according with its competences given in the treaties.

Title 4 has only one article which allows a limited number of member states to co-operate within the EU if others are blocking integration in that field.

Article 22 gives the European Council, acting unanimously, control over defining the EU's foreign policy.

The first, common provisions, details the guidelines and functioning of the EU's foreign policy, including establishment of the European External Action Service and member state's responsibilities.

Article 19 states the EU will "combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation".

Articles 20 to 24 establishes EU citizenship and accords rights to it;[3] to free movement, consular protection from other states, vote and stand in local and European elections, right to petition Parliament and the European Ombudsman and to contact and receive a reply from EU institutions in their own language.

Article 205 states that external actions must be in accordance with the principles laid out in Chapter 1 Title 5 of the Treaty on European Union.

[2] There are 37 protocols, 2 annexes and 65 declarations that are attached to the treaties to elaborate details, often in connection with a single country, without being in the full legal text.

Declaration 1 affirms that the charter, gaining legal force, reaffirms rights under the European Convention and does not allow the EU to act beyond its conferred competencies.

The ordinary revision procedure is essentially the traditional method by which the treaties have been amended and involves holding a full inter-governmental conference.

The simplified revision procedure was established by the Treaty of Lisbon and only allows for changes which do not increase the power of the EU.

The ordinary revision procedure for amending treaties requires proposals from an institution to be lodged with the European Council.

They then proceed with an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which agrees the treaty which is then signed by all the national leaders and ratified by each state.

All states are required to ratify it and lodge the instruments of ratification with the Government of Italy before the treaty can come into force in any respect.

The status of French, Dutch and Danish overseas territories can be changed more easily, by no longer requiring a full treaty revision.

Instead, the European Council may, on the initiative of the member state concerned, change the status of an overseas country or territory (OCT) to an outermost region (OMR) or vice versa.

Legend for below table: [Amending] – [Membership] Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne).

The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.

Both times a national referendum rejected membership, leading Norway to abandon their ratification of the treaty of accession.

It also made changes to voting systems, simplified the structure of the EU and advanced co-operation in foreign policy.

Although it had been ratified by a number of member states, following a "period of reflection", the constitution in that form was scrapped and replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon.

The Treaty instituting the European Defence Community was signed by the six members on 27 May 1952,[30] but it never entered into force as it was not ratified by France and Italy.

[62][63] Article K.3 of the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, authorised the European Communities to "draw up conventions which it shall recommend to the Member States for adoption in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements" under the newly created Justice and Home Affairs pillar, which was organised on an intergovernmental basis.

[78][79] The JHA was integrated into the EC structures as the area of freedom, security and justice with the Lisbon Treaty's entry into force in 2009, which has allowed a number of these Conventions to be replaced by EU Regulations or Decisions.

A TFEU amendment was ratified which authorises the creation of the ESM, giving it a legal basis in the EU treaties.

[90][91] On 30 November 2020 the finance ministers at the Eurogroup agreed to amend the treaties establishing the ESM and Single Resolution Fund,[92] to be ratified in 2021 by all Eurozone member states.

The European Council may, on the initiative of the Member State concerned, adopt a decision amending the status, with regard to the Union, of a Danish, French or Netherlands country or territory referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.