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Cini: European Union Politics 2e

Chapter 10

Voting in the Council of Ministers

The Council of Minister is the most important legislative institution in the EU. Contrary to common sense, however, formal voting by the Council of Ministers is relatively rare. The pre-legislative negotiations by the Coreper and the Council's working groups often solve the difference among the member states at an early stage. Even when disagreement remains, Council decision-making is still dominated by the culture of compromise and consensus-building. Empirical study finds that most Council decisions were adopted by unanimity despite the steady increase of qualified majority voting (QMV) provisions between 1994 and 1998 (Mattila and Lane 2001).

Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the political implications of Council voting. The balance of power in the Council is shaped by the voting rules of QMV (see Hosli 1996). These rules directly concern the national interests of individual member states. During the IGC held in December 2003, for example, it was precisely because of the disagreement over the QMV threshold that Poland and Spain refused to accept the proposed Constitutional Treaty. Agreement was only reached after a new voting formula altered the disadvantages of Poland and Spain.

The infrequent use of negative votes and abstentions also sheds light on the behavioural pattern of the Council. The voting records of the Council of Ministers' decisions have been publicly available since 1994. Some researchers have recently looked into this data (Mattila and Lane 2001; Mattila, 2004; see also Zimmer et al. 2005). Their studies produce some valuable insights into Council decision-making. First, there has been a clear north-south division in the Council. Scandinavian countries are usually standing on the opposite side to the Mediterranean states. Second, small member states are much less likely than large ones to vote 'no' in the Council of Ministers. Third, countries holding the presidency tend to vote less against the Council majority.

Web Links

Council of the European Union
ue.eu.int/

Access to the documentation of the Council of the European Union
europa.eu.int/documents/eu_council/index_en.htm

Sites of European Council meetings
europa.eu.int/european_council/websites/index_en.htm

Further Learning Resources

Hosli, Madeleine O. (1996), 'Coalitions and Power: Effects of Qualified Majority Voting in the Council of the European Union, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 255-73.

Mattila, Mikko (2004), 'Contested Decisions: Empirical Analysis of Voting in the European Union Council of Ministers', European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 29-50.

Mattila, Mikko and Lane, Jan-Erik (2001), 'Why Unanimity in the Council: A Role Call Analysis of Council Voting', European Union Politics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 31-52.

Zimmer, Christina; Schneider, Gerald and Dobbins, Michael (2005), 'The Contested Council: Conflict Dimensions of an Intergovernmental EU Institution', Political Studies, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 403-22.