Bargaining Power in the European Council

Abstract

What grants influence in the European Council? Drawing on general theories of negotiation, this article isolates and illustrates three complementary sources of bargaining power in the European Council: state sources of power, institutional sources of power, and individual sources of power. It reports the results of a unique series of elite interviews with European heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and top-level civil servants. Elite testimonies suggest that the state dimension of power is the most fundamental, whereas the institutional and individual dimensions of power play a secondary role and mainly mediate the impact of structural power asymmetries.

Keywords: European Union, European Council, negotiation, bargaining, power, influence