An elephant on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont? European Council and Commission relations in legislative agenda setting

Abstract:

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council has become an official institution of the European Union (EU). According to the Treaty, it should provide the Union with ‘impetus’ and ‘general political directions and priorities’. The explicit exclusion of any legislative functions seems to demarcate its role clearly from that of the European Commission, which retains the formal monopoly over legislative initiative. However, Treaty provisions have not prevented the European Council and its President from informally setting the agenda in a detailed way, often creating tension with the Commission. By looking into three high profile cases – the energy climate package, economic governance reform and Schengen reform – through the prism of two theoretical approaches – the principal agent model and ‘joint agenda setting’ approach – this article explores patterns of interactions between the two institutions in legislative agenda setting and shows that the relationship can be best defined in terms of ‘competitive cooperation’.