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Democratic Implications of the Treaty of Lisbon

385

• chairing the European Council and driving forward its work;

• ensuring the preparation and continuity of the work of the

European Council in cooperation with the President of the

Commission;

• endeavoring to facilitate cohesion and consensus within the

European Council;

• presenting a report to the European Parliament (EP) after each

of the meetings of the European Council.

In addition, the president should ensure the external

representation of the Union on issues concerning the Common

Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in cooperation with the High

Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

(Art. 15, TEU).

The earlier analysis of the informalization of Council

decision-making implies that intergovernmentalism, the signature

feature of the Council, is quietly being modified into what can be

termed “deliberative intergovernmentalism.” The Council used to

be where national executives, with domestic mandates in mind,

engaged in intergovernmental negotiation. Increasingly, national

executives acquire an “autonomous executive role” not embedded

in a system of parliamentary democracy and

deliberate

rather than

negotiate

in the Council (Curtin, 2009: 134; Puetter, 2012). When

the European Council and the Council of the EU function simply

as arenas for intergovernmental negotiations, it is neither necessary

nor fitting to introduce supranational positions, such as the

President of the European Council and the High Representative for

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. When the two institutions

become less arenas for negotiation but more fora for deliberation,

these newly created posts become important conduits for policy

coordination. Gatekeeping can sometimes appear out of synch with

the new design, and this is more often the case for smaller and

weaker states. In the following, I focus on the position of European

Council President and evaluate its implications for democratic

accountability in the EU.