A new objective for the European Union, relevant to economic and monetary union, was introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam.
Employment now became a “matter of common concern” for the Member States (Article 126 of the EC Treaty). The new objective was to achieve “a high level of employment” without weakening the competitiveness of the European Union (Article 2 of the EU Treaty and Article 2 of the EC Treaty).
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To achieve this, the Union was vested with a new power, supplementary to that of the Member States, namely to prepare a “co-ordinated strategy” for employment. The core of this strategy consists of common guidelines similar to those which had been adopted at the 1994 Essen European Council.

The new Title VIII (Articles 125 to 130) of the EC Treaty spells out these objectives and how to achieve them. It also provides for the creation of an Employment Committee.

The Treaty's explicit reference to employment institutionalises the initiatives launched by the Member States at different European Councils as well as those put forward by the Commission over the past two years. Moreover, alongside the provisions on Economic and Monetary Union, it redresses the balance by adding to the macroeconomic provisions a number of measures that meet European citizens' expectations in terms of reducing unemployment. Indeed one of the hallmarks of this new Title is that repercussions on employment must be taken into account in adopting and implementing each Community policy and action. 
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