The contents of the second volume of the White Paper on the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference lists the contributions setting out the positions of the Member States.

On 28 February 1996, Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, outlines to the European Parliament in Strasbourg the implications of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which is due to open on 29 March in Turin for the revision of the Treaty on European Union.

On 18 March 1996, with a view to the Turin European Council, which will formally open the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the revision of the Treaty on European Union on 29 March, the Italian Government establishes its political objectives and priorities.

On 29 March 1996, the Italian Presidency draws up a note on the organisational aspects of the Intergovernmental Conference on the basis of the conclusions of the Madrid European Council and in consultation with the subsequent Irish and Dutch Presidencies.

At the meeting of the Group of Representatives held on 13 and 14 January 1997 in Amsterdam, chairman Michiel Patijn outlines the work schedule and the preferred method before going on to discuss various institutional questions.

On 28 January 1997, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe welcomes the institutional prospects opened up by the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) organised by the Fifteen for the reform of the Treaty on European Union, with particular regard to the enlargement of the Union.

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.

Le 4 septembre 1997, répondant à une question parlementaire à l'Assemblée nationale, Pierre Moscovici, ministre français délégué aux Affaires européennes, détaille les dispositions principales relatives à la mise en oeuvre des coopérations renforcées au sein de l'Union européenne.

On 18 June 1997, Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, and his Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, hold a joint press conference at which they summarise the results achieved by the Fifteen at the end of the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June.

On 14 November 1995, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Western European Union (WEU) in Madrid, the WEU Member States contribute to the work of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the revision of the Treaty on European Union by emphasising the nature of relations between WEU and the European Union.

On 28 February 1996, with a view to the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the reform of the Treaty on European Union scheduled to be held on 29 March 1996 in Turin, the European Commission publishes its priorities for strengthening political union in the European Union and for making preparations for the forthcoming enlargement.

This letter reproduces the memorandum sent on 7 March 1996 by the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of the Benelux countries to Lamberto Dini, Italian Prime Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference. Following the meeting of their representatives on 6 March 1996 in The Hague, the three states express their hopes with regard to future institutional reforms.

On 17 October 1996, as part of the work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the revision of the Treaty on European Union, Hervé de Charette, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his German counterpart, Klaus Kinkel, send a joint letter to Dick Spring, Irish Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of Ministers of the EU, in which they advocate the principle of enhanced cooperation in order to allow Member States who so wish, and who have the capacity to do so, to progress more quickly than others on the road to the deepening of European integration, in particular with a view to the enlargement of the EU.

On 11 April 1996, the Portuguese delegation sends a document to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union dated March 1996, which sets out Portugal’s official position for the Intergovernmental Conference on the revision of the Treaty on European Union.

On 22 May 1996, the Austrian delegation sends a document to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union setting out the general positions of Austria, as decided by the Austrian Federal Government on 26 March, in view of the Intergovernmental Conference on the revision of the Treaty on European Union.

In July 1996, the ‘Information policy, transparency and public relations’ division of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union makes a compilation for the public of the main texts exchanged during the Intergovernmental Conference under the Italian Presidency. The publication is to be considered as a reference instrument.

In February 1997, the ‘Information policy, transparency and public relations’ division of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union makes a compilation for the public of the main texts exchanged during the Intergovernmental Conference under the Irish Presidency, from July to December 1996. The publication is to be considered as a reference document.

In October 1997, the ‘Information policy, transparency and public relations’ division of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union makes a compilation for the public of the main texts exchanged during the Intergovernmental Conference under the Dutch Presidency, from January to June 1997. The publication is to be considered as a reference instrument.

On 21 November 1996, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union submits its final report on the simplification and consolidation of the Treaties. This question, originally the focus of debates by the Westendorp Group, had already been addressed in two preliminary reports in connection with the Intergovernmental Conference.

On 4 March 1997, the Presidency of the Intergovernmental Conference reports on the proceedings of the Friends of the Presidency Group that was instructed following the Dublin European Council of 13 and 14 December 1996 to study the simplification and consolidation of the Treaties.

This note from the Presidency of the Intergovernmental Conference, dated 30 April 1997, reports on the progress made in the work on simplifying and codifying the Treaties. It replicates the text of the latest report from the Friends of the Presidency Group.

On 19 June 1997, the delegations of the Member States at the Intergovernmental Conference receive a provisional version of the draft Treaty of Amsterdam as mentioned on page 3 of the conclusions of the Amsterdam European Council drawn up by the Presidency.