Decision-Making in the Eu Council of Ministers After Brexit

Abstract

The EU Council of Ministers is different from other EU institutions because it is both an intergovernmental and supranational authority. This hybrid nature has motivated many authors to focus their research on it. The Council is an intergovernmental institution if we look at who is part of it (representatives of the Member States) while the elements of supranationality are most visible in the deci-sion-making area. The central decision-making institutions, the Council of Ministers can take decisions by qualified majority to be applied even to those countries that have not voted for decision. This decision-making procedure is what makes the Council recognizable, and at the same time this is an area that will be significantly affected by the UK's departure from the Union. Therefore, the subject of this paper is the analysis of decision-making in the Council after Brexit. The aim is to present future changes in this area, bearing in mind the current Lisbon model of qualified decision-making by a double majority. In addition, the paper provides projections on what coalitions in the Council might look like after the departure of one of the larg-est and most influential states.