In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Honorary Belgian Ambassador and Special Adviser to European Commissioner Michel Barnier from 1999 to 2004, looks back on the period of negotiations on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was adopted at the Nice European Council in 2001.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Honorary Belgian Ambassador and Special Adviser to European Commissioner Michel Barnier from 1999 to 2004, discusses the drafting of the Laeken Declaration on the future of the European Union in December 2001.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Honorary Belgian Ambassador and Special Adviser to European Commissioner Michel Barnier from 1999 to 2004, looks back at the reasons why the European Commission tasked the European University Institute in Florence with continuing the work on the simplification of the European treaties begun by the group of ‘Wise Men’, directed by Jean-Luc Dehaene. Philippe de Schoutheete also describes his memories of the debates in Florence and explains how this work inspired the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe.