Treaty of Nice

Adopted in December 2000, at the conclusion of the Nice European Council, and signed on 26 February 2001, the Treaty of Nice concluded the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) that began in February 2000, the objective of which was to gear the working of the European institutions to the arrival of new Member States.

It opened the way to the institutional reform needed for the forthcoming EU enlargement with the accession of candidate countries from eastern and southern Europe.

The main changes it brings relate to limiting the size and composition of the Commission, extending qualified majority voting, a new weighting of votes within the Council and making the strengthened cooperation arrangements more flexible. In addition to discussions on these four key issues, other institutional questions were tackled: simplification of the treaties, the definition of powers, the integration of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the role of the national parliaments. The Declaration on the Future of the Union, annexed to the Treaty, set out the next steps to be taken to deepen the institutional reforms and to make sure that the Treaty of Nice is just one stage in this process.

The Treaty of Nice has been ratified by all the Member States, in accordance with their respective constitutional rules, and came into force on 1 February 2003.

See:

•Debate on the future of the European Union
•European Convention
•Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)
•Laeken Declaration
•Treaty of Nice: a comprehensive guide