Trilogues and the Council: Disrupting the Diplomatic Culture

This article seeks to increase our understanding of how trilogues have affected the internal workings of the Council, and asks: How do mandating and accountability of the Council Presidency work with respect to trilogue negotiations, and how do these practices fit with the pre-existing culture of decision-making in the Council? For our analysis, we draw upon Mansbridge’s selection and sanction models of representation. We examine this question by exploring dynamics of decision-making conditioned by trilogues at different levels of the Council machinery, i.e. at working party level, in COREPER, and at ministers’ level. We use a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data have been collected from the Council website and allow us to identify mandating patterns. Qualitative data have been collected through in-depth interviews and help us map out the culture of decision-making in the Council as it faces the potential disruption of trilogues.