On 29 March 1996, the Turin European Council defines the programme of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

The 1996 Intergovernmental Conference opens at the Turin European Council on 29 March 1996. The photo shows Jacques Santer (left), President of the European Commission, Umberto Dini (centre), Italian Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the European Council, and Susanna Agnelli (right), Italian Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union, at the final press conference.

The Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts is signed in Amsterdam on 2 October 1997 and enters into force on 1 May 1999.

European Parliament resolution of 19 November 1997 incorporating Parliament's opinion on the Amsterdam Treaty. The European Parliament considers that the Amsterdam Treaty represents significant advances in some areas but regrets the absence from the Treaty of the institutional reforms needed for the effective and democratic functioning of an enlarged Union.

General view of the ‘Burgerzaal' during the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty on 2 October 1997 in the Royal Palace, Amsterdam. Following an official ceremony opened by Wim Kok, Netherlands Prime Minister, the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the European Union sign the Treaty of Amsterdam in the presence of Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council, Jacques Santer, President of the Commission, and José María Gil-Robles, President of the European Parliament.

Pages showing the signatures to the Treaty of Amsterdam (2 October 1997).

Diagram showing the three-pillar structure of the European Union as created by the Maastricht Treaty signed on 7 February 1992 and modified by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. The Community pillar, which has a supranational character, includes the three European Communities. The second and third pillars, which have an intergovernmental character, concern respectively the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (PJCC).

Dans une note d'analyse de juillet 1997, la Commission européenne compare de façon systématique ce que la Commission attendait de la Conférence intergouvernementale avec le texte final du traité d'Amsterdam.

On 6 October 1997, Jacques F. Poos, Luxembourg Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union, presents a special edition of the Treaty of Amsterdam to Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission.

On 28 April 1999, three days before the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, a press release from the European Commission outlines the major changes introduced by the new Treaty.