On 14 November 1996, Yves-Thibault de Silguy, Member of the European Commission with special responsibility for economic and financial affairs, monetary matters, loans and investment and the Statistical Office, draws up a list of advantages of the euro and outlines the Commission’s communication strategy for informing European citizens about the various stages in the transition to the single currency.

Produced in 1996 by the European Parliament, this film clip shows images dedicated respectively to the meeting in Verdun, on 22 September 1984, between François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic, and Helmut Kohl, German Chancellor, who stand in silent remembrance before the tombs of the German and French soldiers who fell on the battlefield in the First World War; to the military procession of 14 July 1984 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in the presence, in particular, of François Mitterrand, Édouard Balladur, French Prime Minister, Helmut Kohl, Felipe González, Spanish Prime Minister, Jacques Santer, Luxembourg Prime Minister, and Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian Prime Minister; and, finally, to the inauguration, on 5 November 1993, in Strasbourg, of the Eurocorps in the presence, in particular, of François Léotard, French Defence Minister, Volker Rühe, German Defence Minister, and Leo Delcroix, Belgian Defence Minister.

In this interview, recorded in January 1996, Abel Matutes, former member of the European Commission and Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy, presents Parliament’s expectations with regard to European defence with a view to the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), due to begin on 29 March 1996 in Turin in order to make preparations for the revision of the Treaty on European Union.

Produced in 1996 by the European Parliament, this film clip provides a pictorial history of the major geopolitical and military events that have taken place in Europe since the First World War.

In December 1995, in Brussels, with a view to the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) due to begin on 29 March 1996 in Turin in order to make preparations for the revision of the Treaty on European Union, Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, sets out the aims and implications of the IGC.

On 5 December 1995, in Brussels, the Reflection Group created by the Corfu European Council of 24 and 25 June 1994 and chaired since June 1995 by Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza, Spanish Junior Minister for European Affairs, submits its final report on the challenges to be faced at the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in order to adapt the European Union so that it can meet the new international challenges and to prepare for its forthcoming enlargement.

In February 1996, Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission, submits to the European Parliament the aims and the priorities of the Commission regarding the proceedings of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), due to begin on 29 March 1996 in Turin in order to make preparations for the revision of the Treaty on European Union.

On 13 May 1998, the European Parliament hears the candidates for the position of Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), before voting in plenary sitting after having listened to the submission, by Christa Randzio-Plath, of the recommendations, drawn up on behalf of Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, regarding the appointment of Wim Duisenberg, Christian Noyer, Eugenio Domingo Solans, Sirkka Hämäläinen, Otmar Issing and Tommaso Padoa Schioppa.

On 26 January 1995, the European Parliament welcomes to Strasbourg the very first MEPs from Austria, Finland and Sweden following the accession of those three countries to the European Union on 1 January 1995.

On 22 June 2005, in a plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Brussels, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, notes the achievements of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union.