Intergovernmental versus Supranational

Historically, the Council of Ministers has been seen as a primarily intergovernmental institution. The logic behind this thinking is that it was made up of the ministers representing Member States and defending their national interests, while trying to build ‘Europe’.  It was defined as an opposition to the supranational European Commission.

Governance in the European Union

However, constructivists nowadays point out that regular meetings and informal contacts lead to the development of collective understanding and identity that pushes the EU forward (Corbett, Peterson and Bomberg, 2012, p.55).

If you would like to find out more about this read the following article: Beyers, J., Dierickx, G. (2012).  The Working Groups of the Council of the European Union: Supranational or Intergovernmental Negotiations? JCMS, 36 (3), pp. 289-317.

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