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In light of the Lisbon Treaty and considering the issues that the integration process of the European Union (EU) is facing in terms of political and economic cohesion, it is worthwhile assessing the scope and specific features of the institutional framework of the Union. The reforms envisaged in the Lisbon Treaty of the EU, implemented in the midst of the greatest economic crisis that the capitalist model has gone through, constituted the response of the community's leadership to the need of alleviating multiple vulnerabilities facing the integration process. As observed in its evolution, the article highlights characteristic features of the institutional framework of the EU and the deepening and implicit contradictions of the integration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]