On 14 March 1990, the European Parliament adopts a resolution in which it emphasises, in particular, the need rapidly to transform ‘the European Community into a Political Union, on a federal basis, stretching beyond the single market and Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)’, and reiterates its determination to establish the conditions for Parliament’s involvement in the work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

Am 28. April 1990 beschließen die Staats- und Regierungschefs der Zwölf auf der Sondertagung des Europäischen Rates in Dublin die Eingliederung des wiedervereinigten Deutschlands in die Europäische Gemeinschaft.

By this Resolution of 11 July 1990, the European Parliament welcomes the convening of a Conference on Political Union and the fact that the agenda of the forthcoming reform of the Treaties is to be widened beyond economic and monetary union. Whereas the division between external economic relations and European Political Cooperation (EPC) is increasingly difficult to maintain in practice, the European Parliament calls for these two aspects of the Community's international action to be dealt with within the Community framework.

In its Opinion of 21 October 1990, the European Commission advocates a single Community that will encompass the Community policies and European Political Cooperation (EPC), making them subject to the same institutions and to the same decision-making procedures.

In its summer 1990 edition, the federalist journal L’Europe en formation reports on the Dublin European Council of 25 and 26 June 1990 and emphasises the need for the Europe of the Twelve to pursue a common foreign policy if it is to establish its presence in the world.

In its conclusions adopted on 15 December 1990, the Rome European Council provides the context for the holding of two Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC) on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and on Political Union, officially opening in Rome on the same date.

Group photo at the Rome European Council held on 14 and 15 December 1990, which sets out in its conclusions the framework within which the two Intergovernmental Conferences (IGCs) on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and Political Union will be conducted.

On 18 June 1991, the Luxembourg Council Presidency presents a draft Treaty on European Union, drawn up on the basis of the proceedings at the two intergovernmental conferences on Political Union and Economic and Monetary Union, which began on 15 December 1990 in Rome. This draft, which proposes the establishment of three pillars for the Union, is to be the basis for negotiations within the two conferences that will lead to the adoption of the Treaty of Maastricht on 7 February 1992.

In its summer 1991 edition, the federalist journal L’Europe en formation analyses the draft Treaty on European Union drawn up by the Luxembourg Presidency, and revives the debate on the union’s ‘federal vocation’.

Group photo of the European Council held on 28 and 29 June 1991 in the Kirchberg Conference Centre, Luxembourg.

In diesem Interview kommentiert Jacques Santer, ehemaliger luxemburgischer Premierminister und Minister für das Staatsvermögen, die Arbeiten der Regierungskonferenz (RK) zur Europäischen Union und erläutert die Ursprünge der drei Säulen als Grundstruktur der Union, die die luxemburgische Präsidentschaft am 17. April 1991 für den zukünftigen Vertrag über die Europäische Union vorschlug.

On 9 and 10 December 1991, the Heads of State or Government of the Twelve meet as the European Council in Maastricht in order to seek agreement on the Treaty on European Union.

„Maastricht. Politische Union“. Am 9. Dezember 1991 illustriert der deutsche Karikaturist Walter Hanel das Bestreben des deutschen Bundeskanzlers Helmut Kohl und des Präsidenten der Französischen Republik, François Mitterrand, die Verhandlungen zur Überarbeitung der europäischen Verträge für die Schaffung einer europäischen politischen Union zu nutzen, von der der britische Premierminister John Major nur wenig begeistert ist.

On 10 December 1991, the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl (centre), the Foreign Minister, Hans Dietrich Genscher (left) and the Spokesman for the German Government, Dieter Vogel (right), give a press conference on the outcome of the Maastricht European Council.

In einem Kommentar vom 12. Dezember 1991 zum Europäischen Rat von Maastricht untersucht die französische Tageszeitung Le Monde die Bedeutung des neuen Vertrages über die politische Union und beschreibt die wirtschaftlichen, währungspolitischen und sozialen Herausforderungen Europas.

On 11 October 1991, with a view to the forthcoming Maastricht European Council, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Spain issue a joint communiqué in which they outline the main principles on which the new treaty should be based. Among other issues, they emphasise that Western European Union (WEU) is an integral part of the process leading to European Union and that it could be given the task of implementing the security and defence policy.

Am 17. November 1991, einen Monat vor der Tagung der Staats- und Regierungschefs der Zwölf in Maastricht, bedauert die spanische Tageszeitung El País, dass die Vorschläge der Madrider Regierung bei den Verhandlungen im Vorfeld nicht berücksichtigt wurden, und sieht dem Abschluss des Vertrags zur Gründung einer Europäischen Union pessimistisch entgegen.

‘Political Union — Sleeping Beauty and the princes.’ In 1992, inspired by the fairytale La Belle au Bois Dormant, Sleeping Beauty, written by the French author Charles Perrault, German cartoonist, Hanel, illustrates the efforts of the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and of the President of the French Republic, François Mitterrand, to promote the implementation of a European Political Union, while the British Prime Minister, John Major, is quite lukewarm about the idea.

In this interview, Élisabeth Guigou, French Minister for European Affairs from 1990 to 1993, describes the main discussions that took place during the Intergovernmental Conferences on Political Union and Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), launched on 15 December 1990 in Rome and on 9 and 10 December 1991 at the Maastricht European Council . These discussions led to the securing of an agreement on the Treaty on European Union.