Agenda-setting in the EU: a new view of European Council and European Commission relations in the post-Lisbon era

Much of the focus on the EU executive in the post-Maastricht and especially the post-Lisbon era has been on the increasing role of the European Council and the extent to which the European Council has displaced the European Commission as the EU’s supreme agenda-setter. This paper challenges this view, which it argues rests on a mistaken conception of the terms of interaction between the two institutions, an exaggeration of the formal powers and organisational capacities of the European Council, and a misunderstanding of the role of the European Commission’s position as defined under the treaties. Based on an examination of how the EU’s routine policy agenda has been set since Lisbon, notably the preeminent role of the European Commission President within a system of enhanced inter-institutional choreography, and an assessment of efforts on the part of the European Council through the Strategic Agenda and the Leaders’ Agenda to influence the direction of policy, the paper argues for an alternative conception of the relations between these institutions and an appreciation of the wider factors that shape their relationship. The paper draws on new evidence, based on fieldwork conducted by the authors, as well as data and documentary analysis, that highlights key variables that existing scholarship has tended to overlook.