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Today we are going to talk about the period of two years of 1994/95, an important period for the history of Europe. Two important years because of some events, and because by the mid-Nineties some of the protagonists of the decade from 1985 to 1995 gradually- but inevitably- leave the scene of Europe. We speak about people that, among the other things, had known the drama of the war and that had left the political stage of our countries to someone that had not experienced the war. So the latter had a completely different approach towards Europe with respect to those that understood the need to exclude the possibility of any new war on our continent. As far as concerns the events, first of all we must remember the direct elections of the European Parliament in June '94. A new Parliament enters the political scene of the European integration. We must remember the shift from a Commission to another and the end of the decade of Delors’ Commissions: these Commissions have deeply influenced the history of the European political, economic and social integration. Now the Santer’s Commission era begins, that will last a little bit less than 5 years. The last phase of the debate concerning the implementation of the Economic and Monetary Union begins and sometimes it is a bitter debate, because in Germany, for instance, a part of the political class believes that only some countries are able to meet and give some guarantees as far as concerns the Economic and Monetary Union. In September '94 a very important document is published that is called the document on the "hard nucleus" and that is drawn up by the German Christian Democrats, according to which only 5 Countries - Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg – have the requisites to enter the economic and monetary Union, while some other countries, such as Italy and Spain, do not have these requisites. At the beginning of 1995, 3 new countries join the European union, 3 countries from Central and Northern Europe: Austria, Sweden and Finland. On the contrary, Norway, after having failed to ratify the accession treaty due to a negative referendum, does not join the Union. Norway had already said "no" in 1972 and says "no" again in 1994. The negotiations with 10 new countries start. Now we have 10 new applicants from central, eastern and southern Europe. The three Baltic Republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; 4 Countries of central Europe: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; 2 Countries, two Mediterranean islands: Malta and Cyprus; and one of the Republics of the former Yugoslavian federation: Slovenia. The accession of these countries was seen from two different points of views. On the one hand we have the European Commission’s vision, according to which these Countries should join one after the other provided that they meet the political and economic conditions necessary to join the Union. It was the so-called “regatta” idea, that means we start all together but only the fastest break the tape. On the other hand, there was the European Parliament’s view, the so-called “Big Bang”, according to which all the 10 Countries should join at the same time. After a debate involving the Commission, the Council and the Parliament, the theory of the Parliament won and that is why, on 1st January 2004, all the 10 Countries joined at the same time. The opening of the negotiations with these Countries, the membership of Austria, Finland and Sweden, rise the issue of the function of the European institutions, first during the Council’s discussions, then during the Parliament’s debates; therefore, the perspective of another amendment of the Treaties opens up and a couple of years later it will find its concretization in the Amsterdam Treaty.
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