Lisbon Treaty

It is obvious that we need to cooperate closely with Germany and the other Europen countries in matters of trade and economic development. But the Lisbon Treaty introuces changes to the way power is distributed between the countries of the EU. At the moment, if Germany wants to sponsor a piece of legislation in the Council of the European Union (where the Member States meet) Germany needs to find 69% of the available votes allocated to other countries. Under Lisbon, Germany only needs to get 48% of the votes of other countries to get a decision thrugh. This is probably quite fair, given Germany's size, but it should be explained to people, not done behind closed doors.