On 19 June 1997, commenting on the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June, the French daily newspaper Le Monde emphasises the weaknesses of the Franco-German axis and criticises the Fifteen’s inability to resolve some of their problems.
On 11 June 1997, Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, delivers an address to the European Parliament in which he sets out the implications of the Amsterdam European Council to be held on 16 and 17 June and outlines the work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the revision of the Treaty on European Union.
In an article published in the magazine Internationale Spectator in August 1997, Frans Andriessen, former Netherlands Finance Minister and former Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities, criticises the lack of progress made at the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June.
Schelto Patijn (à g.), bourgmestre d'Amsterdam et Hans van den Broek (à dr.), membre de la Commission européenne chargé des relations extérieures se rendent à l’ouverture du Conseil européen d'Amsterdam des 16 et 17 juin 1997.
On 21 June 1997, in an article for the Lisbon weekly newspaper Expresso, Francisco Seixas da Costa, Junior Foreign Minister and representative of Portugal at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), comments on the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June and analyses the political and institutional achievements of the European Summit.
On 19 June 1997, commenting on the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June 1997, the Madrid daily newspaper El País expresses its disappointment at the results achieved by the Heads of State or Government of the Fifteen.
