The Impact of Council's Internal Decision-Making Rules on the Future EU

Widgren, Mika

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1086577

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The Impact of Council's Internal Decision-Making Rules on the Future EU

CESifo Working Paper No. 2195

28 Pages Posted: 23 Jan 2008

See all articles by Mika Widgren

Mika Widgren

University of Turku - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Date Written: January 2008

Abstract

This paper deals with the voting rules in the EU Council. Both internal and external impact of the voting rules are evaluated. Internal impact affects the distribution of power among the member states and external impact affects power relations between the main decision-making bodies in the EU. One of the main lessons of the analysis is clearly to explain why the design of Council voting rules has required so much bargaining and cumbersome marathon negotiations.

Keywords: European integration, Council of Ministers, power

JEL Classification: C70, D71, H77

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Widgren, Mika T., The Impact of Council's Internal Decision-Making Rules on the Future EU (January 2008). CESifo Working Paper No. 2195, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1086577 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1086577