Despite attention focusing on Juncker’s new Commission, the European Council will remain the real centre of EU decision-making

The appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as the new President of the European Commission generated substantial media attention over the summer, which has continued during the Commissioner hearings held in the European Parliament. Uwe Puetter assesses how these developments sit alongside his theory of ‘deliberative intergovernmentalism’, under which the European Council is viewed as holding a central role in the EU’s decision-making process. He argues that the appointments made in 2014 are largely in keeping with the new intergovernmental modes of decision-making which have emerged over the last two decades, and that far from attempting to undermine the European Council’s role, Juncker can be expected to develop close co-operation between the European Council and the Commission.