This paper explores how increased transparency demands affect negotiations in the Council of the European Union. Contrary to expectations in existing literature, it shows that recent transparency initiatives may increase efficiency of decision processes, rather than compromise it. ‘Efficiency’ is here considered in three different ways: 1) the ability to reach agreement between governments; 2) the ‘robustness’ of policy outcomes; and 3) procedural efficiency of the negotiation process. The paper presents a bargaining model where actors care about their political reputation, and where transparency may – perhaps surprisingly – play towards furthering these actors’ interests by making their legislative decision records public. The paper’s empirical material complement the predictions of the paper’s model, and suggest further interesting details regarding governments’ incentives for strategic behaviour both internally in Council negotiations and in dealings with the European Parliament and European Commission.
