Intergovernmental Conference

{{more citations needed|date=April 2011}}

{{Politics of the European Union}}

In the politics of the European Union, an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is the formal procedure for negotiating amendments to the EU's founding treaties.{{Cite web |title=Intergovernmental conferences |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/intergovernmental-conferences/ |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=www.consilium.europa.eu |language=en}} Under the treaties, an IGC is called into being by the European Council, and is composed of representatives of the member states, with the Commission, and to a lesser degree the Parliament also participating.

An IGC will conclude with a meeting of the European Council, at which any political issues requiring resolution at the level of Heads of State or Government will be resolved, and final political agreement will be reached.{{Cite book |title=Government and Politics of the European Union |last=Nungent |first=Neil |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2017 |isbn=9781137454089 |edition=8th |pages=121|editor-last=Paterson |editor-first=William E.}} A final treaty text in each of the community languages will then be prepared by the legal and linguistic experts of the member states, before being presented to the member states for signature and ratification.

== List of International Governmental Conferences ==

• The Intergovernmental Conference on the EMU of 1991 {{Cite book |title=European Foreign Policy |last=Nuttall |first=Simon J. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780191684982 |pages=149–175 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5168/chapter-abstract/147807132?redirectedFrom=fulltext |chapter=6: The Intergovernmental Conference |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198293361.003.0006}}
• The Intergovernmental Conference on the Political Union of 1991 {{Cite book |title=Government and Politics of the European Union |last=Nungent |first=Neil |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2017 |isbn=9781137454089 |edition=8th |pages=471|editor-last=Paterson |editor-first=William E.}}
• Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom of 1956.
• Intergovernmental Conference on the Constitutional Treaty of 1966{{Citation |last=Westlake |first=Martin |title=The European Parliament, the National Parliaments and the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference |year=1995 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1995.tb00453.x |volume=66 |pages=59–73 |publication-date=January 1995 |issue=1 |journal=The Political Quarterly |doi=10.1111/j.1467-923X.1995.tb00453.x }}
• Intergovernmental Conference on the Constitutional Treaty of 2004
• Intergovernmental Conference on the Lisbon Treaty of 2007