Treaty of Nice

(Photo: EUobserver.com)

The Treaty of Nice was adopted on 11th December 2000 after the longest ever European summit.

The Member States strongly defended their own interests, which led to lengthy negotiations and some bizarre compromises, for example, the weighting of votes in the Council.

The most important conditions of the Treaty of Nice concern the adjustment of the EU institutions to accommodate an enlarged Union of 25, and later 27 or 28 members. In a non-binding declaration and in a binding protocol, the Treaty of Nice defines how the main EU institutions will function when the process of enlargement is completed.

The Treaty was signed on 26th February 2001 and entered into force on 1st February 2003, after it had first been rejected in Ireland in June 2001, but adopted after a second referendum in October 2002.

Notes

The Nice Summit also solemnly proclaimed the European Charter of Fundamental Rights as a political declaration.

Links

You can download a free book about the Nice summit from the following websites:
http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?sid=38