The Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties

E.
Institutional reforms with a view to enlargement
a.
The Amsterdam Treaty set the maximum number of Members of the European
Parliament, in line with Parliament’s request, at 700 (Article 189).
b.
The composition of the Commission and the question of weighted votes were
covered by a ‘Protocol on the Institutions’ attached to the Treaty. This provided that, in
a Union of up to 20 Member States, the Commission would comprise one national of
each Member State, provided that by that date, weighting of the votes in the Council
had been modified. At all events, at least a year before the 21st Member State joined, a
new intergovernmental conference would have to comprehensively review the Treaties’
provisions on the institutions.
c.
There was provision for the Council to use qualified majority voting in a number of
the legal bases newly established by the Amsterdam Treaty. However, of the existing
Community policies, only research policy had new provisions on qualified majority
voting, with other policies still requiring unanimity.
F.
Other matters
A protocol covered Community procedures for implementing the principle of
subsidiarity. New provisions on access to documents (Article 255) and greater
openness in the Council’s legislative work (Article 207(3)) improved transparency.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
The European Parliament was consulted before an intergovernmental conference was
called. Parliament was also involved in the intergovernmental conferences according
to ad hoc formulas; during the last three it was represented, depending on the case,
by its President or by two of its members.

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Fact Sheets on the European Union - 2022
5
www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en
Ina Sokolska
05/2022

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Document Outline

• The Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties
  • I. The Maastricht Treaty
  • II. The Amsterdam Treaty
  • Role of the European Parliament