In this interview excerpt, Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, gives his assessment of the developments introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997. He particularly mentions the extension of the co-decision procedure, the partial ‘communitisation’ of the third pillar and the incorporation of the Schengen Agreements into the framework of the European Union, but regrets that little progress was made on reforming the Community institutions.