A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe, First Edition
The Treaty of Amsterdam is a treaty of the European Union (EU). It was agreed and signed in 1997 by the 15 heads of the member states of the EU and came into force on 1 May 1999. The purpose of the Treaty of Amsterdam was to revise the Treaty on European Union (TEU) following the intergovernmental conferences on the TEU held in 1996. The treaty sought to clarify the TEU, prepare the EU for future enlargement to the east, and address the democratic deficit in the EU between citizens, EU institutions and the national governments of member states. In fact, the treaty made little progress towards preparing the EU for enlargement. No agreement was reached on institutional reforms on issues such as the size of the European Commission or the weighting of votes in the Council of the European Union. These questions were addressed later by the Treaty of Nice. The Treaty of Amsterdam did, however, agree an upper limit (700) on the number of members of the European Parliament (EU). The EP’s powers were also increased, most notably through an extension of the co-decision procedure.
The Treaty of Amsterdam developed the EU in the areas of employment, citizens’ rights and security and foreign policy issues.
The Treaty of Amsterdam introduced new provisions on employment which commit the EU to combating unemployment. It also brought fully into the treaty the Social Chapter protocol that had been annexed to the TEU on account of the United Kingdoms’s opt-out. Decision-making by qualified majority voting (QMV) was extended to include employment guide-lines, social exclusion, and equal opportunities and treatment for men and women. Since the Treaty of Amsterdam was signed it has been possible to suspend the member states that do not adhere to and respect the basic values which underpin the EU (liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law). The EU does more to protect the rights of individual citizens and can also now take action to combat all forms of discrimination.
With the Treaty of Amsterdam a number of Justice and Home Affairs policy areas, such as visas, asylum, immigration and refugee persons, were transferred from the third pillar into the first pillar of the EU. The third pillar of the EU became Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters. The Schengen Agreement was incorporated into the treaty, although the United Kingdom and Ireland were allowed to opt out. Finally, the Treaty of Amsterdam strengthened the EU’s co-operation in Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The post of high representative for CFSP was established and QMV was introduced in respect of some aspects of CFSP.
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