The European Council and the Council New intergovernmentalism and institutional change

Organised by the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, ACCESS EUROPE, and the Jean Monnet Chair in European and Transnational Governance

Lecture

Uwe Puetter, professor at the Central European University in Budapest, argues that the prominence of the European Council and the Council in contemporary EU politics has been triggered by the evolution of those new areas of EU activity that have been developed partially or fully outside the classic community method ever since the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht, such as economic governance, foreign affairs and employment policy coordination.

Ever since then the EU has witnessed the rise of a new intergovernmentalism which is based on the principle that member states agree on the coordination of national policies and the collective use of policy resources outside the framework of legislative decision-making.
This shift away from classic community method decision-making caused a sustained process of institutional change notably within the European Council and the Council environment.
This lecture traces the transformation of European Council and Council decision-making over the last two decades and explains the new centrality of the two bodies in EU politics.

About Uwe Puetter

Uwe Puetter is Professor at the Department of Public Policy (DPP) and Director of the Center for European Union Research (CEUR) at the Central European University in Budapest. He also holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Public Policy and Governance and is a member of the Executive Board of the FP7 research consortium 'bEUcitizen'.

The main research interests of Uwe Puetter are in the fields of European integration studies, comparative European politics and European political economy. He has a particular interest in processes of institutional change in the enlarged European Union, both at the national and European level and focuses on European Economic and Monetary Union as well European social policy.

His current research concentrates on the transformation of intergovernmental relations in the European Union after the Maastricht Treaty. It analyses the new role of the European Council and the Council in decision-making. 

Registration

For organizational reasons and to receive updates, please sign up for the meeting by sending an email to acelg@uva.nl.