The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed on 2 October 1997. However, because all the Member States have had to ratify the Treaty by their respective legislative procedures, the Treaty did not become law until 1 May 1999.
Amsterdam is not a Treaty in its own right, but is the successor to the Maastricht Treaty in the development of the Treaties establishing the European Union. It follows the format of the previous Treaties (the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty) in being a series of amendments and additions to the Treaty of Rome.
The intentions for the Treaty were ambitious. They included the granting of legal personality to the Union, internal and external security matters, particularly regulations on visas and immigration and the introduction into the main Treaty of the Schengen agreement (the removal of controls at the internal borders of the EU), and the development of the role of the European Community institutions in preparation for enlargement.
In the event, the aims were only partially achieved, not least that legal personality was not given to the Union. This leaves the further development of the European Community to be continued at the next Inter-Governmental Conference, which is expected to be in either in the year 2000 or 2001. Nevertheless, the impact of European law on the Member States has progresively grown to a degree where it now profoundly affects a very wide range of matters which were previously wholly within national sovereignty.
The Treaties, taken together, form the primary legislation and are in effect the "constitution" of the Community; they provide the legal basis for all secondary legislation - regulations, directives and decisions - made by the institutions of the Community. Essentually, the Treaties produce obligations for Member States and rights for individuals and legal persons.
The general approach taken in this book is that the new provisions introduced by each successive Treaty should be placed in the context of the preceding Treaties and the differences highlighted in order that the implications can be fully understood and how the fundamental law of the Community has been altered and developed.
The format follows 'The Maastricht Treaty in Perspective - Consolidated Treaty on European Union', first published by the British Management Data Foundation in October 1992. There is a summary of the key issues covered by the Treaty, a discussion on the additional 'competences' of the European institutions and a three-column analysis of the development of competences from the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Amsterdam.
The three-columnar approach allows the reader to assess how the Treaties have progressed and developed and shows the details of the changes introduced by Amsterdam to the overall European Treaty. This includes the identification of the Articles and sentences that have been repealed by Amsterdam.
The Treaty of Rome and the Single European Act have been combined into one column for clarity and in order to highlight the amendments and additions introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Maastricht Treaty. If readers wish to see the changes made to the original Treaty of Rome by the Single European Act, they should refer to 'The Maastricht Treaty in Perspective'.
The changes to the Treaty on European Union introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam have been integrated into the text of the existing Treaty and are shown in bold text.
This book includes the full text of the Treaty on European Union (except the Titles III and IV - see next paragraph), as amended by Amsterdam, as well as all of the associated Protocols, including those introduced by previous Treaties. The remaining Articles of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which do not directly refer to adjustments to the Treaties, and all of the Declarations agreed at Amsterdam are also shown.
Title III, the European Coal and Steel Community, and Title IV, the European Atomic Energy Community, have not been included, as the amendments introduced by Amsterdam are principally concerned with administrative matters intended to bring these two Treaties in line with the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community.
The Appendices include additional documents agreed at Amsterdam, in particular a Resolution by the European Council on the new Exchange-Rate Mechanism introduced when the Single Currency started on 1 January 1999.
This Second edition adds several important documents on the Single Currency, updaates some of the analyses in the light of recent events and corrects a number of minor errors in the first edition.
In addition, the general index (prepared by the BMDF) has been enlarged and the table of Equivalances, shown in a very simple form in the official version of the Treaty of Amsterdam, has been expanded to allow the reader to follow the changes in the numbering of the articles from the Maastricht Treaty to the Treaty of Amsterdam.
Sources and References:
The text of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Treaty on European Union is drawn from the official texts of the Treaties:
The Treaty of Amsterdam; Official Journal 97/C 340/01, the Luxembourg official publication, ISSN 0378-6986, dated 10 November 1997 [ISBN 011-916-2938].
European Union: Consolidated Treaties; the Luxembourg official publication, FX-08-97-606-EN-C, dated 2 October 1997 [ISBN 92-828-1640-0].
Treaties establishing the European Communities, Cm 3151 HMSO January 1996 [ISBN 0-10-1315120].
Treaty of Amsterdam, Cm 3780 HMSO October 1997 [ISBN 0-10-1378025].
