Important legal notice
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Towards a European constitution

Main dates

This calendar sets out all the main stages and significant events in Europe’s institutional reform. It includes links to the full texts of the Treaties and declarations and to the sites of the institutions concerned with the future of Europe.



14 February 2000:
opening of the  2000 Intergovernemental Conference


7-10 December 2000:
Nice European Council :

26 February 2001:
Signature of the Treaty of Nice :


15 December 2001:
Laeken European Council


28 February 2002:
European Convention : inaugural session


1 February 2003:
Entry into force of the Treaty of Nice


16 April 2003:
Signature of the Treaty of Accession

20 July 2003:
Presentation of the draft Constitution 


4 October 2003:
Opening of the 2003/2004 IGC 


1 May 2004:
EU enlargement


16 and 17 June 2004:
Brussels European Council:
Political agreement on the text of the Constitution

29 October 2004:
Signature of the Constitution


2004-2006:
Ratification procedure of the Constitution by Member States


16 and 17 June 2005:
Brussels European Council:
Declaration of the Chiefs of State or Governments on the Ratification of the Constitution

 


15-16 June 2006:
Brussels European Council:
Statement from Heads of State and Government on relaunching the ratification procedure


25 March 2007:
Berlin Declaration: Pdf [77.2 KB]
Declaration on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the signature of the Treaties of Rome


21-22 June 2007:
Brussels European Council: Pdf [297 KB]
On 23rd June EU leaders agreed on a mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference which will draw up a new Treaty on institutional reform by the end of 2007. If ratified, this treaty could enter into force in June 2009, ahead of the next European Parliament elections.
 

 

Second semester of 2008: Decisions on how reform should be pursued

 

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