“Don’t expect miracles,” you quote José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, on what to expect from the ratification of the Lisbon treaty (“Deciding Europe’s Place in the World,” October 31, 2009). “Lisbon reinforces our capacity to act, but at least as important is our willingness to act.” Very well put. The new posts of President of the European Council and High Representative heading the diplomatic service, a kind of foreign minister, will change little of substance. As Britain, France, and Germany are the only countries in the European Union with a foreign policy worth mentioning, the new posts will either smack of these countries’ interests, or they will be entirely irrelevant. Given that the Union makes little sense in the world without the protection of the United States, those who take the new posts will have to work closely with the American president. And that is about all one can say about the Lisbon treaty. Barroso’s caution is well worth remembering for quite some while.