National Governments’ Internal Quarrels at the EU Level. Who Defines a Member State’s Position in the Council?

The recent turmoil within the German government following the Minister of Agriculture’s support for the EU Commission’s proposal to authorize Glyphosate has showcased that the “national” position adopted at the EU level depends on who defines it. In the present paper, I take a closer look at government-internal decision processes concerning EU policies. In order to resolve potential disputes up-front, different forms of coordination mechanisms are applied, with variations between member states, single- and multi-party governments, and according to the salience, the policy area and the decision-making arena of the issue. Furthermore, I study to which extent government-internal quarrels affect voting behavior of ministers at the European level. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, I find that “abstain” votes in the Council, which have so far been overlooked by scientific research, can be a sign of a government-internal compromise concerning the definition of the “national” position.