The Maastricht Treaty is signed and officially creates the Committee of the Regions
The Committee of the Regions holds its inaugural session and elects EPP Member Jacques Blanc, President of the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon (F), as the first President (1994-1996).
Jos Chabert, Minister for Public Works and Transport in the Brussels-Capital Region (B), is elected as the first President of the EPP-CoR Group, later becoming CoR president (2000-2002)
The number of CoR members is increased to 222, to take into account the accession of Finland, Sweden, and Austria.
At the 1st Summit of Regions and Cities in Amsterdam, EPP member Edmund Stoiber, President of Bavaria (D), calls for the areas of consultation to the CoR to be extended, and for the possibility to be consulted by the European Parliament.
Juan José Lucas Jimenez, Regional President of Castilla y Leon (ES) is elected president of the EPP-CoR Group. He will be remembered for forging close relations with the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament.
The Amsterdam Treaty enters into force, enlarging the areas of consultation to CoR and giving the European Parliament the right to consult the CoR, as requested by EPP co-rapporteur Edmund Stoiber two years earlier.
EPP Member Jos Chabert, Minister of Public Works and Transport in the Brussels-Capital Region (B) is elected as President of the CoR (2000-2002), and organizes the first meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament and the Presidents of the CoR political groups.
The EPP takes lead and elects the first female Group President in the CoR – Claude du Granrut, Mayor of Senlis and regional Councillor of Picardie (F). She presides over the first EPP-CoR Group Extraordinary meeting which adopts the Santiago de Compostela Declaration on "The future of Europe". Keynote speakers include the Spanish Prime-Minister José Maria Aznar and EPP President Wilfried Martens.
The EPP-CoR Newsletter – the rEPPoter – is issued to keep citizens and MEPs informed about the activities of the EPP Group in the Committee of the Regions.
