The progress of the single currency was about to bring about something tangible: euro notes and coins. A big bang enlargement had just gained speed with the opening of accession negotiations with 12 candidate countries in 1998. The last European election of the 20th century took place at a major political crossroads, and its outcome was bound to have far-reaching effects.
If peace seemed secured, after almost half a century of European integration and also a decade since the end of the Cold War, the Kosovo conflict was a cruel reminder of its fragility, as the Yugoslavian wars had been before. A more muscular European external policy appeared to be the way to give stability to the continent. During the following parliamentary term, the signing of the Treaty of Nice (2001), amending both the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) and the Treaty of Rome (1957), was in part meant to prepare the union for enlarged membership.
The turnout was 58 %. The French politician Nicole Fontaine was elected president of the European Parliament for the first half of the term in 1999 and the Irish politician Pat Cox took over for the second half of the term in 2002. This Parliament saw the euro come into circulation on 1 January 2002, and the setting up of a Convention for the drafting of the European Constitution, but it also witnessed major challenges to the European Union’s role as a world player. The 11 September 2001 attacks in New York and Washington put the fight against terrorism on the table as never before.
The US invasion of Iraq split the union into two groups of countries, those which sided with the United States and those which remained critical: that even prompted a dismissive distinction between an ‘Old Europe’ and a ‘New Europe’!
