In this interview, Jacques Santer, former President of the European Commission, recalls certain issues which affected the progress, between 1995 and 1999, of the second and third stages of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

On 21 December 1993, in an address to the Belgian Section of the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC), Jean-Jacques Rey, Director of the National Bank of Belgium (BNB), gives a progress report on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on the eve of the transition to the second stage, scheduled for 1 January 1994.

At the end of the Dublin European Council of 13 and 14 December 1996, the Fifteen adopt various measures relating, in particular, to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and budgetary discipline, to fighting unemployment and to the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) responsible for the revision of the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaties establishing the European Communities to enable the European Union to confront the new challenges that it faces.

On 16 and 17 June 1997, at the Amsterdam European Council, the Fifteen adopt a series of measures relating to, in particular, Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), employment, competition and growth in Europe.

Protocol (No 19) annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community by the Treaty on European Union of 7 February 1992.

On 31 May 1995, Yves-Thibault de Silguy, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Monetary Matters, Credit and Investments and the Statistical Office, holds a press conference in Brussels during which he outlines the advantages of the European single currency and sets out the schedule for the establishment in stages of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

At the end of the Brussels European Council of 29 October 1993, the Twelve call for the speeding up of negotiations on the accession of Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden to the European Union in order for the enlargement to come into effect on 1 January 1995.

At the end of the Brussels European Council, held on 10 and 11 December 1993, the Twelve adopt a series of Decisions relating, in particular, to the number of representatives allocated to Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden in the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

The Council Decision of 29 March 1994 concerning the taking of decisions by qualified majority gives effect to the ‘Ioannina Compromise'. This Compromise lays down that, where Members of the Council representing a number close to the blocking minority oppose the taking of a decision by qualified majority, the Council will do its utmost to reach, within a reasonsable period of time, a satisfactory solution that can be adopted by a larger consensus.

On 30 March 1994, during the negotiations for the accession of Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden to the EU, the Council of the European Union comments on the decisions taken regarding the reform of the decision-making procedure in the various European institutions.

In its March 1994 edition, the monthly journal Crocodile compares the outcome of the informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve, held in Ioannina on 30 March 1994, with the Luxembourg Compromise of January 1966 concerning voting procedures within the Council.

In May 1994, the monthly legal journal Revue du Marché Commun et de l’Union Européenne analyses the outcome of the negotiations for the accession to the European Union of Austria, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

On 28 February 1996, with a view to the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the reform of the Treaty on European Union scheduled to be held on 29 March 1996 in Turin, the European Commission publishes its priorities for strengthening political union in the European Union and for making preparations for the forthcoming enlargement.

In this interview, Alain Lamassoure, French Minister for European Affairs from 1993 to 1995, describes the negotiations that led to the entry into force of the Schengen Convention on 26 March 1995 in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. This agreement provided for the gradual abolition of controls at the countries’ common borders and the introduction of a regime for the free movement of people.

On 13 July 1984, in Saarbrücken, Roland Dumas, French Foreign Minister, and Waldemar Schreckenberger, Junior Minister to the German Federal Chancellor, sign the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at the Franco-German border.

On 14 June 1985, in Schengen (Luxembourg), France, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the Benelux countries sign the Schengen Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders.

On 19 June 1990, on board the pleasure boat ‘Princesse Marie-Astrid’, moored in Schengen, Luxembourg, Paul De Keersmaeker, Belgian Junior Minister in the Foreign Ministry, Lutz Stavenhagen, Junior Minister to the German Federal Chancellor, Edith Cresson, French Minister for European Affairs, Georges Wohlfahrt, Luxembourg Junior Minister in the Foreign Ministry, Piet Dankert, Netherlands Junior Minister in the Foreign Ministry, and Aad Kosto, Netherlands Junior Minister in the Ministry of Justice, sign the Convention implementing the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders signed in Schengen on 14 June 1985.

On 20 June 1990, the daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort welcomes the measures to abolish controls on persons at internal borders included in the Additional Protocol to the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 which was signed on 19 June 1990, in Schengen, by the representatives of Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

On 20 June 1990, the day following the signing of the Convention applying the Schengen Agreement by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir describes the practical difficulties that the free movement of persons may come up against.

On 27 November 1990, in Paris, Italy signs the Agreement of Accession to the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders signed in Schengen, Luxembourg, on 14 June 1985 by the representatives of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

On 25 June 1991, in Bonn, Spain signs the Agreement of Accession to the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders signed in Schengen, Luxembourg, on 14 June 1985 by the representatives of Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

On 25 June 1991, in Bonn, Portugal signs the Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders signed in Schengen, Luxembourg, on 14 June 1985 by the representatives of Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

On 3 June 1991, during the debates in the French National Assembly on the ratification of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 27 November 1990 and of the bill to approve Italy’s accession to that Convention, Elisabeth Guigou, Minister Delegate for European Affairs, outlines the implications of the free movement of persons in Europe.

On 12 February 1992, as the German Government passes the bill to ratify the Schengen Agreements, Rudolph Seiters, German Interior Minister, emphasises the political impact of the Agreements.

On 6 April 1995, the European Parliament adopts a resolution on the impact of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement on asylum policy and emphasises that the free movement of persons is an integral part of the internal market and of the objectives of the European Union.

Le 4 septembre 1997, répondant à une question parlementaire à l'Assemblée nationale, Pierre Moscovici, ministre français délégué aux Affaires européennes, détaille les dispositions principales relatives à la mise en oeuvre des coopérations renforcées au sein de l'Union européenne.