In this interview, Manfred Scheich, Head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Economic Policy and Integration, chief negotiator for the diplomatic negotiations on the country’s accession to the European Union from 1987 to 1995 and Austrian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1995 to 1999, describes the main issues that he believes the Member States of the European Union will have to face after the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force on 1 December 2009.