Small States and EU Governance: Leadership through the Council Presidency (St Antony's Series)

Small States and EU Governance shows that the EU’s rotating Council presidency and small states’ capacity to make use of it have been underestimated. It examines the political objectives the presidency serves and presents a systematic and comparative assessment of its nature and influence in internal market and foreign policy issues. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Tables and Figures......Page 11 Foreword......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 15 Abbreviations......Page 16 I. The Council presidency and small states......Page 20 II. The gaps in our understanding of the presidency......Page 21 III. Hypotheses, methodology, and theoretical underpinnings......Page 23 IV. The cases......Page 29 V. Limits and caveats......Page 33 VI. Structure and propositions......Page 35 Introduction......Page 37 I. The presidency as the guardian of equality: the EU'S institutional balance......Page 38 II. The evolution of the presidency......Page 50 Conclusion......Page 56 Introduction......Page 58 I. Policy entrepreneurship and agenda-setting in the EU......Page 59 II. Conceptualising the presidency: neutral broker versus policy entrepreneur......Page 62 III. Conditions for Success......Page 74 Conclusion......Page 89 Introduction......Page 93 I. Finnish internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives......Page 94 II. Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence......Page 98 III. Overcoming the obstacles: the strategic process......Page 102 IV. Conditions for success......Page 113 V. Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals......Page 122 Conclusion......Page 130 Introduction......Page 133 I. Belgian internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives......Page 134 II. Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence......Page 139 III. Overcoming the obstacles: the strategic process......Page 145 IV. Conditions for success......Page 158 V. Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals......Page 169 Conclusion......Page 175 Introduction......Page 178 I. Greek internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives......Page 179 II. Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence......Page 183 III. Overcoming the obstacles: the strategic process......Page 188 IV. Conditions for success......Page 203 V. Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals......Page 211 Conclusion......Page 218 I. The presidency, national interests, and levels of influence......Page 221 II. A question of size? On the presidency's resources and constraints......Page 225 III. The presidency as a policy entrepreneur......Page 229 IV. The value of the rotating Council presidency......Page 231 V. Are the alternatives better?......Page 234 Appendix......Page 237 Notes......Page 241 Bibliography......Page 263 C......Page 301 E......Page 303 I......Page 304 M......Page 305 P......Page 306 S......Page 307 W......Page 308 Z......Page 309 The rotating Council presidency took the centre stage in the EU's recent institutional reform debates disclosing a deep divide between the big and small Member States. While the former sought its abolition, the latter fiercely defended it. This divide resurfaced in the 2008 referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The Irish rejected the treaty in part due to their concerns over the new institutional arrangements which contain the most fundamental reform of the Council presidency to date and over the balance between small and big Member States. This book investigates the tension between big and small states in the EU by taking a closer look at an institution that had long been ignored by EU scholars: the Council presidency. The literature has traditionally seen the presidency as a neutral, administrative task that is particularly irksome for the small. This gives rise to two inter-linked questions: a) why has the presidency reform been so contentious? and b) why are especially the small states such adamant supporters of the rotating office? Simon Bunse seeks answers to this puzzle by examining the political objectives the presidency serves and presenting a systematic and comparative assessment of its nature and influence in internal market and foreign policy issues. Her book is one of the most in-depth accounts of this institution to date, how to exert leadership in the EU, and of the factors that condition a presidency's success. -- Back cover