English: Florence European Council, 21-22/06/1996

Presided by Romano Prodi, Italian Prime Minister, the European Council took place in Florence on 21-22 June 1996. The meeting was preceded by an exchange of views with Klaus Hänsch, President of the EP, and followed by a meeting with the Heads of State and Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of associated countries from Central Europe, including Slovenia and the Baltic countries, as well as Cyprus and Malta. On the side of this meeting, were signed agreements between the EU and, respectively, Chile and Uzbekistan. By marking its agreement on the frame of action presented by the EC concerning the eradication of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (“mad cow” disease), the European Council of Florence settled the political difficulties related to this question. In terms of employment, there is an EC communication entitled “Action for employment in Europe: a Confidence Pact”, which calls on EU institutions, the governments of Member States, regional and local authorities, as well as, social partners to mobilise concretely in an integrated approach. In addition, the European Council gave new impetus to the IGC by specifying its objectives and schedule.

Group photo, from left to right: - 1st row: Wim Kok, Dutch Prime Minister; John Bruton, Irish Prime Minister; Jacques Santer, President of the EC, receiving a t-shirt from a girl; Göran Persson, Swedish Prime Minister; José María Aznar, Spanish Prime Minister; John Major, British Prime Minister; Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland; Romano Prodi, Italian Prime Minister and President in office of the Council; Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic; Franz Vranitzky, Austrian Federal Chancellor; António Guterres, Portuguese Prime Minister; Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian Prime Minister, Constantin Simitis, Greek Prime Minister;- 2nd and 3rd rows: Erik Derycke, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs; ?; Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs; Hans van Mierlo, Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs; Tarja Halonen, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Niels Helveg Petersen, Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Malcolm Rifkind, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Helmut Kohl, German Federal Chancellor; Jaime Gama, Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs; Marcelino Oreja, Member of the EC in charge of Relations with the European Parliament, Relations with the Members States (Transparency, Communication and Information), Culture and Audiovisual Policy, the Office for Official Publications, Institutional Matters and Preparations for the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference (in agreement with the President); Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourgish Prime Minister; Lena Hjelm-Wallén, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Theodoros Pangalos, Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs; Klaus Kinkel, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs; Dick Spring, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister