February 7th 1992: Signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union

At the beginning of the 1990s, two intergovernmental conferences (IGC) were held in parallel: One on the plans for political union and the other on economic and monetary union whose aim was the eventual adoption of a common currency. These two processes ended by coming together and led to the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union.  

As an essential step in the establishment of "an ever closer union between the peoples of Europe", this treaty established European citizenship as well as a common foreign and security policy (CFSP). It also put in place scheduled steps to the creation of a single currency for the majority of member states.  

In France, the treaty was ratified through a referendum on September 20th 1992 which was won with the narrowest of victories – just 51.04% voted yes.
The Maastricht Treaty entered into force on November 1st 1993.

 

January 1st 1995: Enlargement of the European Union to include Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Because of their military neutrality, some European countries remained outside of the Community and preferred to be members of EFTA (European Free Trade Association). In 1991, creation of the EEA (European Economic Area) extended the rules of the common market to EFTA countries.

In the meantime, the breakdown of the Soviet Union made the neutral status of countries practically obsolete. From the moment that European rules were applied, it was in the interest of EFTA countries to integrate into the Community.

So, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Norway (who had already done so at the beginning of the 1970s) each applied for membership. Only the first three joined in the end which brought membership of what had by then become the European Union to fifteen.

 

October 2nd 1997: Signing of the Amsterdam Treaty

The Maastricht Treaty made provisions that its signatories would meet again to bring about potential improvements to the workings of the EU. During the 1996 IGC, member states seemed more divided than during the previous negotiations. For this reason, the Amsterdam Treaty did not go as far as some would have liked. Unanimity remained mandatory for foreign policy and the attempt to reform the institutions came to nothing.  

Among the advances made were the establishment of a High Representative for CFSP and the entry into the community sphere of visa, asylum and immigration issues.  Besides this, the treaty gave special importance to European citizens by devoting attention to human rights in the EU, the fight against unemployment and the role of services of general economic interest.

 

December 4th 1998: The Saint-Malo summit gives decisive momentum to defence in Europe

During the Saint-Malo summit, the United Kingdom (who had previously been hostile to the emergence of European military power) and France agreed that the EU "must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises."

Since that point, the EU has worked towards implementing permanent political and military structures, clarifying its relations with NATO and defining specific missions (humanitarian aid, crises management, restoring peace). One of the first autonomous operations was in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003. Today, the EU deploys civil and military operations on several continents (the Balkans, Asia, the Middle East etc.).

 

March 16th 1999: Facing revolt from the MEPs, the Santer Commission chooses to resign

In 1995, heads of state and government chose Luxembourger Jacques Santer to succeed Jacques Delors as head of the European Commission. Having been successful in implementing the single currency, Santer entered a stormy period at the end of his mandate. The Commission that Santer presided over was accused of financial mismanagement by the European Parliament, itself wishing to assert its political power.  To avoid a motion of no confidence, the Commission chose to collectively resign with less than a year to go to the end of its mandate.

February 26th 2001: Signing of the Nice Treaty

After the semi-failure of Amsterdam, the fifteen members launched a new IGC in 2000 to try to reform an institutional system which was ill-equipped for the enlarged Union that lay ahead. During these negotiations, France and Germany opposed each other on numerous points. Paris, for instance, did not accept the reinforcement of Germany’s demographic weighting in the institutions which was a consequence of reunification.  

Lasting an inordinately long time, the Nice European Council of December 2000 took place in an electric atmosphere and led to a compromise that was deemed insufficient by almost all the delegations. The new text was highly complex to the point that its signatories immediately launched a ‘debate on the future of the Union' aimed at creating a new text.

 

January 1st 2002: The euro in the pockets of European consumers

The ten years following the Maastricht Treaty saw the twelve member states of economic and monetary union adapting their economies to the 'convergence criteria': get control of inflation, balance the budget, limit public deficit and stabilise exchange rates between countries in the zone.

On January 1st 1999, the euro was officially adopted as a unit of account.

Consumers were able to use the new currency from January 1st 2002. It was just a matter of getting used to the new currency and gradually forgetting about the problems of converting!

May 1st 2004: Enlargement of the European Union to ten new member states

The fall of the Iron Curtain soon raised the question of what the relationship would be between the European Union and the countries liberated from Soviet control. After considering some intermediary plans (in particular, François Mitterrand’s European Confederation), the fifteen member states in the end opted for total integration of these countries into the Union.

The biggest enlargement ever imagined was initially going to include ten Eastern and Central European countries as well as the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta. Of the twelve countries in line for membership, only ten became EU members on May 1st 2004: Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. Romania and Bulgaria would have to wait until 2007 to join the twenty-five existing member states.

October 29th 2004: Signing the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe
It is generally accepted that the Nice Treaty was inadequate for a Europe enlarged to 25 members or more. A new institutional reform was called for. To limit risk of veto and to give the reform greater democracy, the European Council convened a special assembly. The European Convention, presided over by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, was made up of European and national parliamentarians as well as representatives from the Commission. The Convention drafted a project for a European Constitution and the final text was signed by heads of state and government on October 29th 2004.

Like previous treaties, the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe had to be ratified by all member states before being entered into force. In spring 2005, the French and Dutch electorate voted against the text. At the European Council of June 2005, the heads of state and government decided that the ratification process should continue. But it was wishful thinking as within a very short period of time, several member states (the United Kingdom in particular) terminated their national ratification process for fear of it being rejected. Europe found itself in a major institutional crisis.

2005 : Iter and Galileo, Europe at the cutting edge of science

Although immobilised on the institutional front, the European Union had two big success stories in 2005 which proved that it was able to carry out projects that lead to tangible results. In June 2005, the Cadarache centre in France was chosen to host the experimental ITER reactor as part of a global research programme on atomic fusion that is being co-directed by the European Union.

In December 2005, the first satellite of the European navigation system (Galileo) was launched which is a competitor to American GPS. However, the project was faced with national disagreements and financial difficulties so was significantly delayed. After overcoming these challenges, the project was relaunched mainly thanks to the resolve of the European Commission. Galileo should be operational by 2013.

 

December 13th 2007: Signing of the Lisbon Treaty

In an attempt to sort out the institutional impasse brought about by the French and Dutch rejections, heads of state and government endorsed a ‘reform treaty’ or a ‘simplified treaty’ at the informal European Council on October 18th and 19th 2007. This move, which aimed to modify existing treaties without replacing them, was the result of long negotiations with member states. On December 13th 2007, all member states signed this treaty in Lisbon which became known officially as the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty brought several major institutional changes particularly election of the European Council President for a two and a half year renewable term and extension of the European Parliament’s powers.

The treaty was supposed to come into force on January 1st 2009 following ratification by all 27 member states. Fearful of the precedent set by France and the Netherlands, almost all states chose ratification through their national parliament rather than a referendum. All except Ireland that is, which was obliged by its Constitution to consult the people.  Organised for June 12th 2008, the Irish referendum was a great source of concern - concern which turned out to be well founded given the result. Although 18 member states had already ratified the treaty, the Irish rejected it in a referendum.

Anxious to avoid a crisis like the one experienced in 2005, a majority of member states declared their wish to continue with the ratification process at the European Council of June 18th and 19th 2008. The United Kingdom set an example by ratifying the text on June 19th 2008. Some states however, like the Czech Republic, seemed less cooperative.

A second referendum was organised in Ireland for October 2nd 2009 which would determine the outcome of the treaty.
 
 

December 1st 2009: entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty

As the financial crisis was taking hold of all member states, the Irish accepted ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by voting 'yes' at the referendum on October 2nd 2009. In return, they were guaranteed that there would be one commissioner per member state and that the EU would not intervene on issues of abortion, taxation or military neutrality. The hesitations of the Polish and Czech presidents were finally overcome. The Czech president signed the necessary national ratification act on November 3rd 2009 having received a guarantee that the Charter of Fundamental Rights would not be applicable in the Czech Republic. Thus the treaty was ratified by all 27 member states.

Since December 1st 2009, the Lisbon Treaty has been applied in the European Union and has substantially reformed the decision-making process in the community making it more efficient and more democratic.