Negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers

Based on participant observation and first-hand accounts, Sandrino Smeets provides an original, in-depth analysis of Council negotiations on the Balkans enlargement of the European Union. By moving beyond explaining negotiations by the constellation of state preferences and power, his innovative Caucus race model accounts for the process features that in turn account for the development and outcomes of negotiations. Smeets’ book is not only essential reading for students of EU enlargement and the EU Council; it offers relevant insights for the study of international negotiations in general. -- Frank Schimmelfennig, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Sandrino Smeets is a historian, journalist and political scientist. He specialises in EU decision making and international negotiations in the fields of foreign policy, enlargement and economic and monetary union. As part of his PhD project, he worked for the Dutch Permanent Representation in the Council Working Party on the Western Balkans (Coweb) and the Council Working Party on Enlargement (Coela). He has published in a number of academic journals, including Journal of European Public Policy, European Journal of Political Research and Journal of European Integration. Previously an Assistant Professor in the departments of Methodology and Political Science of Radboud University Nijmegen, he currently works at Aarhus University on a project about the EMU reform negotiations.