The European Council turns 50: Studying and analyzing a key institution of the European Union
The European Council turns 50: Studying and analyzing a key institution of the European Union (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1682098325100106) was written by Lucas Schramm in 2026. It was published in European Political Science (vol. 25, no. 1).
The history of the European Council is traced from the Paris Summit in December 1974. It was created to overcome gridlock in the Council of Ministers and met for the first time as the European Council in March 1975. It was named as such in the Single European Act of 1987. It was made a key institution by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. While treaties suggest there should be 4 meetings per year, since the Eurozone crisis in 2009 the body in practice convenes much more often. The institution produces 'conclusions' rather than proposals.
Note that sessions of the European Council are not public. Furthermore, the institution produces 'conclusions' rather than proposals. There are only vague signals that a consensus failed to emerge from a session. Most commonly there is either no conclusion, or the conclusion merely states that an item was discussed. Beyond these, must look at public statements from individual heads of state.
The European Council seems to delegate certain issue spaces to the Council of Ministers, especially when the unanimity rule would bar decision making. This has been most prominently seen in COVID-19-related public health policies due to the opposition of Orbán and Morawiecki.
On the other hand, the European Council is frequently opposed to the European Parliament. They derive legitimacy from very different sources; MEPs are directly elected, whereas heads of state serve as indirectly-elected representatives.