Turnover in the Council of the European Union: What It is and Why It Matters

Abstract: This article analyzes personnel turnover in the Council of the European Union. It draws upon analysis of an original monthly database of ministers in EU Member States from 2004 to 2012. After surveying the literature on the negative effects of high legislative turnover, descriptive statistics are presented that demonstrate high levels of turnover in the Council as a whole and high levels of turnover across all nine sectoral Council configurations. A statistical model is then proposed that tests whether variations in levels of Council turnover affect the institution's bargaining success vis-à-vis other EU institutions.
The finding, consistent with the broader literature's predictions, is that high levels of turnover hurt the Council vis-à-vis the European Parliament and the European Commission. The article concludes with general remarks about the implications of turnover for the Council system and for the EU more broadly.