Intergovernmental Conference 2007
In the light of the outcome of the 2000 IGC which resulted in the Nice Treaty, the European Council decided at the end of 2001 to organise a Convention to look at how the Union could be made more democratic, transparent and efficient. This Convention, which met between March 2002 and July 2003, drew up a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe which was intended to replace the existing treaties. It was subsequently submitted to an IGC and was agreed, slightly amended, in June 2004, and signed in October the same year.
The problems encountered in 2005 during the process of ratifying the Constitutional Treaty led the Union to engage in a process of reflection on future reform. This resulted in June 2006 in an invitation from the European Council to the future German Presidency to prepare a report on the way forward.
This report, together with the work undertaken by the German Presidency, allowed the European Council at its meeting on 21-22 June 2007 to agree on the convening of a further IGC, as well as to approve a detailed mandate which would constitute the basis of its work.
The European Council also invited the incoming Portuguese Presidency to draw up a draft Treaty text in line with the terms of the mandate and to submit this to the IGC as soon as it opened.
The IGC opened on 23 July 2007, and completed its work on 18 October. The resulting Treaty was signed in Lisbon on 18 December 2007.