Guide to the Amsterdam Treaty - Part 1

The Temple symbolising the EU Treaty, with Pillar 1 the European Community including Social policy, Pillar two - Common Foreign and Security Policy and Pillar 3 Justice and Home Affairs.

1. Introduction

A. Preface
B. Acknowledgements
C. How to use this guide

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A. Preface

The Treaty of Amsterdam marks a new departure for disabled citizens in Europe. As a result of extensive campaign work by disability NGOs, disabled people are now visible in the Treaties. The non-discrimination clause, the provisions on social policy, the title on employment, the declaration on internal market legislation will all have practical consequences for disabled people throughout the Union. But how can we use the Treaty to the greatest effect at European and national level to advance the human rights of disabled people? How can we inform peers and allies about the scope of the Treaty, its potential and its limitations for disabled citizens? This guide provides an valuable insight into the Treaty. As such, it forms a pivotal part of a training pack designed to inform and empower our membership and also stimulate reflection on our goals for future campaign work and indeed the next intergovernmental conference. I would like to congratulate the Legal Rights Working Group for providing such a clear and comprehensive overview of the Treaty from a disability perspective. I know it will be a key resource for us in our mission to ensure disabled people are equal and visible in today’s Europe.
Johan Wesemann, Chair

B. Acknowledgements

The European Disability Forum would like to acknowledge the sterling work of the members of the Legal Rights Working Group in the preparation of this Guide. We greatly appreciated the support of Ángel Ballesteros, John Wall, Gerard Quinn, Aart Hendriks, and Helga Stevens. Particular thanks go to Lisa Waddington, Chair of the working group, for her invaluable additional role as coordinator and legal editor.Sophie Beaumont from the European Parliament Intergroup also contributed with an overview of the current political climate in the European Parliament.We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of the EDF secretariat: Nicola Bedlington, who also wrote the chapter on the analysis of the campaign work to date, Maria Brättemark, who edited and managed the publication, and Pirkko Mahlamäki.We are grateful to Barry Lynham for additional editing, and to John O’Gorman, Barbara McLaughlin and Diana Sutton for their comments.

C. How to use this guide

This guide contains a number of different sections. Whilst the section "Analysis on campaign work" can be read independently from the rest of the text, we would recommend that readers begin by reading the initial chapter "Setting the scene: the Maastricht Treaty" before embarking on the main section "Explaining the Amsterdam Treaty", where individual aspects of the new Treaty are analysed in detail. When this guide went to press in February 1998, the ratification process had not yet started in the Member States. We have therefore included a section on the scope of the Treaty before ratification, which discusses its immediate impact. The following section outlines suggestions on where the disability movement may want to see the next Treaty revision lead. With the Amsterdam Treaty coming into force, the numbering of articles will change. We use the old numbering in the first two sections, and switch to the new numbering as of the section on "Explaining the Amsterdam Treaty". Readers are advised to use full texts or extracts of the Treaty in conjunction with this guide. The text does not cover all areas of the Treaties changed in Amsterdam. Nor does it give a full explanation of issues such as the functioning of the EU political process, or a full reference list or suggested reading. Readers who would like further information are advised to read the various official EU publications available from the European Commission offices in all Member States. This Guide is published in English, French, German and Spanish. A summary of the text in Danish, Greek, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedish is also available from the EDF Secretariat.
The Editorial team
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