Today, after 28 years of negotiations, on 2 October 1997 (Calendar 1 September 1997), the European Union officially signed the Treaty of Amsterdam. On the morning of 2 October 1997, the Foreign Ministers of the EU-15 officially signed the Treaty of Amsterdam in the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In his speech, the President of the European Commission said that the achievement of the Treaty of Amsterdam showed that the European Union has made progress in deepening its integration. The Treaty of Amsterdam established the legal basis for building a ¡°Social Europe.¡± The European Union also expressed a certain political will in terms of common foreign security policy. At the same time, he pointed out that the reform of the voting mechanism did not meet the expected objectives. The President of the European Union acknowledged that European integration has come to a very difficult phase before each