ABSTRACT
The prolonged period of time taken to achieve the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty rendered the 1996-1997 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) of the European Union premature. Many of the most sensitive issues at Maastricht had been left open in the expectation that they would evolve in the lead up to the 1996 IGC. Whilst the most significant question concerning common foreign and security policy was the reform of decision-making, the key defence question in the IGC was the relationship between the European Council and the Western European Union (WEU). In the lead up to the Amsterdam Summit, France argued for the European Council to be given the power to 'instruct' the WEU. Germany was once more in the vanguard of those states calling for WEU integration into the EU. Germany was in favour of an automatic right to flexibility amongst those states that were interested and suggested that the concept could be applied to defence.
