On 23 July 2007, in Brussels, at the opening session of the Intergovernmental Conference on the reform of the Treaties, Luís Amado, Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union, delivers an address on the mandate, timetable and organisation of the work of the Conference.
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 this interview excerpt, Joseph Weyland, Permanent Representative to the European Communities from 1984 to 1991 and Chairman of the Group of Personal Representatives of the Foreign Ministers of the European Communities from 1 January to 30 June 1991, shares his memories of the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Maastricht under the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June 1991. He describes the work and the working method of the Group of Personal Representatives, emphasising the assistance of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities and particularly its Legal Service. Finally, he discusses the European Commission’s proposals and the differences of opinion between the Commission and the Luxembourg Presidency.
On 12 October 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and President of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, forwards to the Conference’s Committee of Heads of Delegation a memorandum in which he sums up the French and German memorandums regarding the establishment of a European Economic Community (EEC) and a European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).
In this interview excerpt, Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, President of the Eurogroup and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference on Economic and Monetary Union in 1991, discusses the most sensitive points and the tensions that characterised the work of this Intergovernmental Conference. He also refers to the independence of the future Central Bank and to his proposal of an ‘opt-out' concept for Britain.
At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Maurice Faure, former Junior Minister in the French Foreign Ministry and former Head of the French Delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, refers to the political situation in France at the time of the revival of European integration and praises the atmosphere and the working method of the Intergovernmental Conference.
In this interview, Hubert Ehring, former Director of the Legal Service of the Special Council of Ministers of the Secretariat of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and member of the of the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, describes the role played by Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and President of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, during the Val Duchesse negotiations.
In this interview, Hubert Ehring, former Director of the Legal Service of the Secretariat of the Special Council of Ministers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and member of the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, discusses the Secretariat’s role and working methods during the Val Duchesse negotiations.