The hard-negotiated Amsterdam Treaty laid important foundations for the future of EU treaties. But were the changes as deep and far-reaching as hoped?

History: The Amsterdam Treaty

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After two years of negotiations,  the EU's heads of state and government

met on 16 June 1997  to finalise the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Changing a treaty  was a long, drawn-out affair,

as it had to be discussed  at intergovernmental conferences

when Member State representatives  had to agree

on a long wish list  of proposals for reform.

Jean-Luc Dehaene was  Belgian Prime Minister at the time.

Five years after the Treaty of Maastricht,

we hoped that certain things that couldn't  be resolved at Maastricht now could be.

In the meantime there had been  an enlargement and more was required.

The subsequent result was  for us a disappointment.

With the problems that we came up against,

particularly concerning decisions  by qualified majority,

Before Amsterdam, most of the decisions  taken at the Council of Ministers

had to be unanimous.  Economic and financial affairs, for example,

Unanimity was in fact another word  for immobilism

because you're always being blackmailed  by someone not wanting to move forward.

and to try to generalise  qualified majority decisions.

The treaty extended qualified majority  to a number of areas,

including public health  and customs cooperation.

Qualified majority was reached  with roughly a 71% majority.

Every Member State had a certain number  of votes, so-called weighted voting.

For instance, Luxembourg had two votes  and Germany 10.

But it wasn't only about power struggles  between Member States.

The Treaty of Amsterdam was another step

and making the Commission  more responsible

to a freely-elected members representation.

Under the so-called co-decision procedure,

the European Parliament and the Member  States had almost equal voting power

in 23 policy areas, including employment,  health, transport and the environment.

The EP was also granted power to approve  the European Commission President,

as well as to impose sanctions when  Member States violated human rights.

Jan Mulder was a Dutch MEP  at the time of the Amsterdam Treaty.

When I was elected  for the first time in 1994,

the issue was really  to give more power to the Parliament.

and every step in that direction  is a step in the right direction.

The treaty also introduced  enhanced cooperation

to be more efficient as more Member States  were about to join the Union.

This allowed a group of Member States to  move ahead in their EU integration process,

for instance, for judicial cooperation  on criminal matters.

The Amsterdam summit  was another step closer

to the introduction of the common currency,

as prototypes of the new coins  were displayed to the public.

Following the conflicts  in the former Yugoslavia,

Member States found the existing  common foreign and security policy lacking.

to work on a more effective  foreign and defence policy.

It mustn't be forgotten that countries  like Austria, etc, the Northern countries,

had difficulties with joining the mechanism.

That was why we started with  the so-called Petersberg tasks,

And in that Amsterdam  was an important step.

The treaty also created the post  of a High Representative

which the former Spanish  Secretary General of NATO, Javier Solana,

The Amsterdam Treaty was signed  on 2 October 1997

by the foreign ministers  of the 15 EU Member States.

Although Amsterdam lay important  foundations for future treaties of the Union,

many were frustrated  by how little was achieved

at the lengthy  intergovernmental conferences.

any future change to the EU treaties  will first have to be discussed

a body including representatives  of Member States, national parliaments,

After the convention, there is  an intergovernmental conference,