In this interview excerpt, Mark Eyskens, Belgian Prime Minister in 1981 and Minister for External Relations from 1989 to 1992, emphasises the importance of the Treaty on European Union, signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, and stresses the need to pursue the institutional deepening of the European Union.

In this interview excerpt, Mark Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium in 1981 and Minister for External Relations from 1989 to 1992, discusses the European Council’s rejection on Monday 30 September 1991 of a treaty proposal made by the Netherlands Government that pushed the federalisation of the decision-making process to its maximum. This rejection led to what was termed the ‘Black Monday’ of the Dutch Presidency in 1991.