Treaty Change in the European Union: The Amsterdam Experience

This chapter explores the origin, preparation, negotiation and conclusion of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, the most recent instance of treaty change in the European Union (EU). Treaty changes are major events in the EU, involving a complicated and protracted interplay among member states, institutions, issues, interests and individuals. The Amsterdam Treaty is the culmination of a series of major treaty reforms that began with the Single European Act (SEA) in 1986 and continued with the Treaty on European Union (TEU) in 1992. Together, these treaty changes have fundamentally recast the EU bargain, extended the EU’s scope and altered the EU’s decision-making dynamics. The Amsterdam Treaty foresees further treaty change, but not of the multifaceted kind that characterized the SEA, TEU and the Amsterdam Treaty itself.