Paper Titles & Abstracts

Decision-making between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament is characterized by a paradox: On the one hand, there is a high potential for inter-institutional conflict. Historically, the EP and the Council have been opponents in the struggle for power. In addition, both institutions can be said to fulfill different representational roles within the political system of the EU, with the Council acting as the representation of the member states and the Parliament representing the citizens. Furthermore, agreement between the two is complicated by decision rules posing high thresholds for agreement and actors with often times divergent preferences. On the other hand, in day-to-day policy-making, Council and EP display a high level of consensus and decision-making efficiency. Early agreements provide a shortcut for cumbersome inter-institutional negotiations and most legislation is adopted at first reading. To shed light on this paradox, we conceptualize the mechanisms and dynamics underlying inter-institutional conflict and cooperation by taking recourse to factors derived from historical, sociological and rational choice institutionalisms. We argue that the same logics which account for conflict also contain the explanation for cooperation.