The Power Transformation Of Council Of Ministers In EU

Council of Ministers in EU is the representative of national interests of member states at EU level. According to specific decision-making procedure and voting rules, member states in the Council of Ministers vote to decide the proposals from European Commission. Strictly speaking, Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental institution which is set up at EU level and a forum in which member states bargain and compromise. The proposals which member states vote to support become laws. Both the Council of Ministers and European Commission together to supervise the executive situation of decision in member states. At the institutional level, European integration is an outcome of compromise and competition between intergovernmental institutions (like Council of Ministers) and supranational ones (like European Commission). With the treaty reforms and institutional adjustment, the power of Council of Ministers is up and down in different stages of European integration. The changes of power in Council of Ministers has been divided into four stages, the power in Council of Ministers increases or decreases in each stage, which is the result of political, economic and institutional dynamics after all. Political dynamics promote member states endeavour to enhance the decision-making power in Council of Ministers, due to member states expect to grasp the tendency of integration development; Economic dynamics which is complex and changing is huge driving force to strengthen supranational power; Institutions are created by member states, but gradually play independent role, leading to "unintended outcome". My article selects Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) as a key case in each stage. Council of Ministers is the main decision-making institution of CAP. European Commission and European Parliament are increasingly involved. CAP demonstrates the process of power changes of Council of Ministers and the relations among the three institutions. Moreover, my article chooses other cases which are similar to or different from CAP. Intergovernmentalism and Supranationalism are the two theoretical camps in European Integration. They debate who is the main actor to push forward the development of European Integration, member states or supranational institutions? From the initial discussion between Realism and Neo-functionalism to the debate between Liberal-Intergovernmentalism and Neo-Institutionalism, the two camps hold different opinions in the process of European Integration. Intergovernmentalism emphasizes the leading role of member states, Council of Ministers is the core decision-making institution, which decides the future direction and speed of development of integration. In contrast, supranationalism recommends supranational institutions'independent influence in the process of integration. The supranational institutions play predominant role, such as European Commission and European Parliament.