The Lisbon Treaty could come into effect in 2010; nine years after European leaders launched a process to make the EU “more democratic, more transparent and more efficient”. Like the European constitution before it, the treaty is often described as an attempt to streamline EU institutions to make the enlarged bloc of 27 states function better. This paper analyses the impact of the Lisbon treaty on the institutional architecture. The bulk of its institutional reforms, moreover, are identical to those proposed in the failed Constitutional Treaty. On the on hand, the Lisbon Treaty sets out increased powers for the European Council, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice. Its other concern is the internal organizational reform of the institutions to make them both more effective and, in some cases, more transparent and accountable.