The EU Council: Institutional Change and Legislative Stability (1995-2012)

In contrast to general expectations the growth of EU membership as well as European treaty reform did not have any significant impact on the Council’s overall legislative and roll call activity. On the basis of a new dataset representing the total population of public roll calls and recorded votes in the Council (1995-2012) this paper explains why the EU Council has been so successful in guaranteeing legislative and roll call stability between 1995 and 2010. The quantitative and qualitative analysis finds that frontloading legislation, changing voting behaviour, reinforcement of existing coalition patterns and the successful adjustment of newer Member States to the EU Council have contributed to the EU Council’s decision-making capacity during the observed 16 years. In explaining the apparent contradiction between institutional change and the Council’s legislative stability this paper contributes to our knowledge of the functioning, the decision-making processes and the geography of contestation in the EU Council.