In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, describes the context in which the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) was opened in Turin at the end of March 1996. He goes on to emphasise some differences between this IGC, which led to the conclusion of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, and the previous IGC that had resulted in the Treaty of Maastricht.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, describes the organisation of the Belgian delegation during the 1996–1997 Intergovernmental Conference that led to the Treaty of Amsterdam, and summarises the priorities set out in the Benelux memorandum that was drafted on this occasion.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, describes the negotiations that led to the creation of the post of European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), one of the major innovations of the Treaty of Amsterdam that was signed in 1997. Philippe de Schoutheete also emphasises the role played by Javier Solana in developing this post.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, discusses the innovations of the Treaty of Amsterdam in the area of defence, particularly with regard to relations between Western European Union (WEU) and the European Union. He welcomes the compromise that made it possible to frame the ‘Petersberg tasks’.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, explains the enhanced cooperation mechanism, a key innovation in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, and also looks back at the origins of this concept, which was already included in the Tindemans Report and the Spinelli Draft.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, gives his assessment of the developments introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997. He particularly mentions the extension of the co-decision procedure, the partial ‘communitisation’ of the third pillar and the incorporation of the Schengen Agreements into the framework of the European Union, but regrets that little progress was made on reforming the Community institutions.