In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, discusses some aspects of the negotiations that led to the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union on 1 January 1995, particularly the issue of the compatibility between neutrality and the common foreign and security policy.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, describes the reasons for the adoption of what became known as the Ioannina Compromise, named after an informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers on 29 March 1994 in Ioannina, Greece, during the accession negotiations that led to the fourth enlargement of the European Union.