Small States and EU Governance: Leadership Through the Council Presidency Book

List of Tables and Figures x

Foreword xi

Acknowledgements xiv

Abbreviations xv

1 Introduction 1

I The Council presidency and small states 1

II The gaps in our understanding of the presidency 2

III Hypotheses, methodology, and theoretical underpinnings 4

IV The cases 10

V Limits and caveats 14

VI Structure and propositions 16

2 The Presidency within the EU's Institutional Balance and its Evolution 18

Introduction 18

I The presidency as the guardian of equality: the EU's institutional balance 19

II The evolution of the presidency 31

Conclusion 37

3 The Council Presidency as a Policy Entrepreneur: Nature, Agenda-setting Power, and Conditions for Success 39

Introduction 39

I Policy entrepreneurship and agenda-setting in the EU 40

II Conceptualising the presidency: neutral broker versus policy entrepreneur 43

III Conditions for Success 55

Conclusion 70

4 The 1999 Finnish Presidency: Internal Market and Foreign Policy Priorities and Achievements 74

Introduction 74

I Finish internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives 75

II Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence 79

III Overcoming the obstacles: the strategic process 83

IV Conditions for Success 94

V Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals 103

Conclusion 111

5 The 2001 Belgian Presidency: Internal Market and Foreign Policy Priorities and Achievements 114

Introduction 114

I Belgian internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives 115

II Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence 120

III Overcoming the obstacles:the strategic process 126

IV Conditions for success 139

V Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals 150

Conclusion 156

6 The 2003 Greek Presidency: Internal Market and Foreign Policy Priorities and Achievements 159

Introduction 159

I Greek internal market and foreign policy presidency objectives 160

II Obstacles: the leadership environment, institutional hurdles, and preference divergence 164

III Overcoming the obstacles: the strategic process 169

IV Conditions for success 184

V Revision of achievements: assessing the counterfactuals 192

Conclusion 199

7 Conclusion 202

I The presidency, national interests, and levels of influence 202

II A question of size? On the presidency's resources and constraints 206

III The presidency as a policy entrepreneur 210

IV The value of the rotating Council presidency 212

V Are the alternatives better? 215

Appendix 218

Notes 222

Bibliography 244

Index 282