some European fears of the Lisbon Treaty settled

Calming all those in doubt, the German Constitutional Court ruled that the Treaty of Lisbon is compatible with the German Constitution. Quoting yesterday's Euractiv article ("German Court clears EU treaty for House approval") quoting the Court's judgement we are left with no doubt: (...) the treaty would not lead to the formation of an EU state. Rather, the EU under Lisbon would remain "an association of sovereign states to which the principle of conferral applies," the court ruled.
Moreover, (...) the treaty does "not confer on the European Union the competence to use the member states' armed forces without the approval of the respective member state affected".
Now we just wait for some necessary changes (in September) to the German national legislation (also a recommendation of the German Constituional Court), of course later (in October) for the Irish referendum, ultimately for Lech Kaczyński and Václav Klaus...