Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)

This term is used to describe negotiations between the Member States' governments with a view to amending the Treaties. Intergovernmental conferences play a major part in European integration, since institutional changes must always be the outcome of such negotiations.

These conferences are convened, at the initiative of a Member State or the Commission, by the Council of Ministers acting by a simple majority (after consulting the European Parliament and, if appropriate, the Commission).

The preparatory work is entrusted to a group consisting of a representative of each of the Member States' governments and, as a matter of custom, a representative of the Commission. The European Parliament is closely involved throughout by means of observers and discussions with the President of the Parliament. This group regularly reports to the General Affairs Council. The final decisions are taken by the heads of state and government at a European Council.

The most important IGCs in recent years have resulted in the following treaties:

•The Single European Act (1986): this introduced the changes needed to complete the internal market on 1 January 1993.
•The Treaty of Maastricht (1992): the Treaty on European Union was negotiated at two separate IGCs, one on economic and monetary union (EMU) and the other on political union, instituting the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and cooperation on justice and home affairs (JHA).
•The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997): this is the result of the IGC launched at the Turin European Council in March 1996. The task of the Conference was to revise those provisions of the Maastricht Treaty which gave rise to problems of implementation and to prepare for future enlargement.

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam did not introduce all the institutional reforms needed to ensure that the institutions would function efficiently after enlargement, the Cologne European Council (3-4 June 1999) decided that a new IGC should convene in 2000 to address the issues not resolved in the Treaty of Amsterdam.

These were:

•the size and composition of the Commission;
•the weighting of votes in the Council;
•the possible extension of qualified majority voting in the Council.

The Santa Maria de Feira European Council in June 2000 extended the remit of the IGC to include "closer cooperation".

The new IGC was launched on 15 February 2000 after formal consultation of the Commission and the European Parliament.

It was concluded at the Nice European Council (7-10 December 2000) and gave rise to the treaty of the same name signed on 26 February 2001.

A declaration on the future of the Union annexed to the Treaty of Nice refers to a new IGC, to be held in 2004 following a broad public debate and preparation by a Convention on institutional reform. The Convention was established by the Laeken European Council in December 2001 and is to report on its work in June 2003, as a starting point for the IGC negotiations.

See:

•Council of the European Union
•Debate on the future of the European Union
•European Commission 
•European Convention
•European Parliament 
•Laeken Declaration
•Revision of the Treaties
•Treaty of Amsterdam
•Treaty of Nice