# Treaty of Lisbon/Article 1 - Treaty on European Union/Article 17

34) The text of Article 17 shall become Article 27, with the amendments set out in point 48 below. The text of Article 23, with the following amendments, shall become Article 17:
(a) in paragraph 1, the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: "Decisions under this Chapter shall be taken by the European Council and the Council acting unanimously, except where this Chapter provides otherwise. The adoption of legislative acts shall be excluded." and the last sentence in the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: "If the members of the Council qualifying their abstention in this way represent at least one third of the Member States comprising at least one third of the population of the Union, the decision shall not be adopted.";
(b) paragraph 2 shall be amended as follows:
(i) the first indent shall be replaced by the following two indents: "- when adopting a decision defining a Union action or position on the basis of a decision of the European Council relating to the Union's strategic interests and objectives, as referred to in Article 10b(1), - when adopting a decision defining a Union action or position, on a proposal which the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has presented following a specific request to him or her from the European Council, made on its own initiative or that of the High Representative,";
(ii) in the second indent, which shall become the third indent, the words "a joint action or a common position," shall be replaced by "a decision defining a Union action or position,";
(iii) in the second subparagraph, first sentence, the word "important" shall be replaced by "vital"; the last sentence shall be replaced by the following: "The High Representative will, in close consultation with the Member State involved, search for a solution acceptable to it. If he or she does not succeed, the Council may, acting by a qualified majority, request that the matter be referred to the European Council for a decision by unanimity.";
(iv) the third subparagraph shall be replaced by the following new paragraph 3, the last subparagraph shall become paragraph 4 and paragraph 3 shall be renumbered 5:
"3. The European Council may unanimously adopt a decision stipulating that the Council shall act by a qualified majority in cases other than those referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.";
(c) in the paragraph now numbered 4, the words "This paragraph shall not apply" shall be replaced by "Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not apply".
35) An Article 17a shall be inserted, with the wording of Article 16; it shall be amended as follows:
(a) the words "inform and" shall be deleted, the words "within the Council" shall be replaced by "within the European Council and the Council" and the words "in order to ensure that the Union's influence is exerted as effectively as possible by means of concerted and convergent action" shall be replaced by "in order to determine a common approach";
(b) the following sentence shall be added after the first sentence: "Before undertaking any action on the international scene or any commitment which could affect the Union's interests, each Member State shall consult the others within the European Council or the Council. Member States shall ensure, through the convergence of their actions, that the Union is able to assert its interests and values on the international scene. Member States shall show mutual solidarity.";
(c) the following two paragraphs shall be inserted:
"When the European Council or the Council has defined a common approach of the Union within the meaning of the first paragraph, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Member States shall coordinate their activities within the Council.
The diplomatic missions of the Member States and the Union delegations in third countries and at international organisations shall cooperate and shall contribute to formulating and implementing the common approach.".