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| Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts | |
|---|---|
 European leaders in Amsterdam, June 1997. | |
| Type | Amender of theTEU, theTEC, theTEAEC, and theTECSC |
| Signed | 2 October 1997 |
| Location | Amsterdam,Netherlands |
| Effective | 1 May 1999 |
| Signatories | |
| Depositary | Government of Italy |
| Citations | Prior amendment treaty: Maastricht Treaty (1992) Subsequent amendment treaty:Nice Treaty (2001) |
| Languages | |
| Full text | |
 Treaty of Amsterdam atWikisource | |
After amendments made by the Amsterdam Treaty: Consolidated version of EURATOM treaty (1997) Consolidated version of the ECSC treaty (1997) Consolidated version of TEC (1997) Consolidated version of TEU (1997) | |
TheTreaty of Amsterdam, officially theTreaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999;[1] it made substantial changes to theMaastricht Treaty, which had been signed in 1992.
Under the Treaty of Amsterdam, member states agreed to transfer certain powers from national governments to theEuropean Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil andcriminal laws inareas of shared and exclusive competency, and enactingcommon foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU.
The treaty was the result of long negotiations which began inMessina, Italy, on 2 June 1995, nearly forty years after the signing of theTreaty of Rome, and reached completion inAmsterdam on 18 June 1997. Following the formal signing of the Treaty on 2 October 1997, themember states engaged in an equally long and complex ratification process. The European Parliament endorsed the treaty on 19 November 1997, and after two referendums and 13 decisions by parliaments, the member states finally concluded the procedure.
The Treaty of Amsterdam comprises 13 protocols, 51 declarations adopted by theConference, and eight declarations by member states, plus amendments to the existing treaties set out in 15 articles. Article 1 (containing 16 paragraphs) amends the general provisions of the Treaty on European Union and covers the CFSP and cooperation in criminal and police matters. The next four articles (70 paragraphs) amend theEC Treaty, theEuropean Coal and Steel Community Treaty (which expired in 2002), theEuratom Treaty, and the Act concerning the election of the European Parliament. The final provisions contain four articles. The new treaty also set out to simplify the Community Treaties, deleting more than 56 obsolete articles and renumbering the rest in order to make the whole more legible. By way of example, Article 189b on thecodecision procedure became Article 251.
The most pressing concerns of ordinary Europeans, such as their legal and personal security, immigration, and fraud prevention, were all dealt with in other chapters of the treaty. In particular, the EU became responsible for legislating on immigration,civil law orcivil procedure, insofar as this is necessary for the free movement of persons within the EU. At the same time, intergovernmental co-operation was intensified in the police and criminal justice field so that member states should be able to coordinate their activities more effectively. The Union aims to establish an area of freedom, security and justice for its citizens. TheSchengen Agreements have now been incorporated into the legal system of the EU (Ireland remains outside the Schengen agreement due to its open border with theUnited Kingdom, seeCommon Travel Area for details).
The treaty lays down new principles and responsibilities in the field of the common foreign and security policy, with the emphasis on projecting the EU's values to the outside world, protecting its interests, and reforming its modes of action. TheEuropean Council will lay down common strategies, which will then be put into effect by the Council acting by a qualified majority, subject to certain conditions. In other cases, some member states may choose to abstain "constructively", i.e. without actually preventing actions being taken.
The treaty introduced aHigh Representative forEU Foreign Policy who, together with the Presidents of the Council and theEuropean Commission, puts a "name and a face" on EU policy to the outside world. Although the Amsterdam Treaty did not provide for a common defence, it did increase the EU's responsibilities forpeacekeeping and humanitarian work, in particular by forging closer links withWestern European Union.
As for the institutions, there were two major reforms concerning the co-decision procedure (the legislative procedure involving the European Parliament and the council), affecting its scope—most legislation was adopted by the co-decision procedure—and its detailed procedures, with the parliament playing a much stronger role. The President of the commission will also have to earn the personal trust of the parliament, which will give them the authority to lay down the commission's policy guidelines and play an active part in choosing the Members of the commission by deciding on their appointment by common accord with the national governments. These provisions make the Commission more politically accountable, particularly vis-à-vis the European Parliament. Finally, the new Treaty enables, under very strict conditions, closer co-operation between member states which so wish. Closer co-operation may be established, on a proposal from the commission, in cases where it is not possible to take joint action, provided that such steps do not undermine the coherence of the EU or the rights and equality of its citizens.
The Amsterdam Treaty did not settle all institutional questions. Work was still in progress on reforming the institutions to make them capable of operating effectively and democratically in a much enlarged EU. The most pressing issues were the composition of the commission and the weighting of member states' votes upon qualified majority voting. These questions were addressed in theLisbon Treaty.
On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdomleft the European Union and so withdrew from the treaty.
Since theend of World War II, mostsovereignEuropean countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (orpooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in theEuropean integration project or theconstruction of Europe (French:la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of theEuropean Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its presentorganizations,institutions, and responsibilities from theEuropean Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of theSchuman Declaration.
| Legend: S: signing F: entry into force T: termination E: expiry de facto supersession Rel. w/ EC/EU framework: de facto inside outside |  European Union(EU) | [Cont.] | ||||||||||||||||
| European Communities(EC) | (Pillar I) | |||||||||||||||||
| European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM) | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
 / / / European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| European Economic Community(EEC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Schengen Rules | European Community (EC) | |||||||||||||||||
| TREVI | Justice and Home Affairs(JHA,pillar III) | |||||||||||||||||
 / North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) | [Cont.] | Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters(PJCC,pillar III) | ||||||||||||||||
  Anglo-French alliance | [Defence armhanded toNATO] | European Political Co-operation (EPC) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP,pillar II) | |||||||||||||||
 Western Union (WU) |  / Western European Union (WEU) | [Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984reactivationhanded to theEU] | ||||||||||||||||
| [Social, cultural taskshanded toCoE] | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
| Council of Europe(CoE) | ||||||||||||||||||
Entente Cordiale S: 8 April 1904 | Davignon report S: 27 October 1970 | European Council conclusions S: 2 December 1975 | ||||||||||||||||
