Cover Page
The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/28777 holds various files of this Leiden University
dissertation.
Author: Alexandrova Petrova, Petya
Title: Agenda setting in the European Council
Issue Date: 2014-09-18
9.
Annexes
Annex 1: The European Council in the EC/ EU Treaties
Treaty
Year
signed/ in
force
Single
European
Act (SEA)
1986/ 1987
Main provisions related to the European Council and changes in
them
Title I Common Provisions, Article 2
The European Council shall bring together the Heads of State or of
Government of the Member States and the President of the
Commission of the European Communities. They shall be assisted by
the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and by a Member of the Commission.
The European Council shall meet at least twice a year.
Maastricht Title I Common Provisions, Article D
Treaty
The European Council shall provide the Union with the necessary
1992/ 1993 impetus for its development and shall define the general political
guidelines thereof.
The European Council shall bring together the Heads of State or of
Government of the Member States and the President of the
Commission.
They shall be assisted by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the
Member States and by a Member of the Commission. The European
Council shall meet at least twice a year, under the chairmanship of the
Head of State or of Government of the Member State which holds the
Presidency of the Council.
The European Council shall submit to the European Parliament a
report after each of its meetings and a yearly written report on the
progress achieved by the Union.
Amsterdam Title I Common Provisions, Article 4 – the same as Article D, TEU
Treaty
1997/ 1999
Treaty of
No changes to Art. 4, Treaty of Amsterdam
Nice
Declaration on the venue for European Councils
2001/ 2003
As from 2002, one European Council meeting per Presidency will be
held in Brussels. When the Union comprises 18 members, all
European Council meetings will be held in Brussels.
Lisbon
Article 9 – The European Council listed among the EU institutions
Treaty
Title III Provisions on the Institutions, Article 9B (replaces Art. 4,
183
2007/ 2009
184
Treaty of Amsterdam)
1. The European Council shall provide the Union with the necessary
impetus for its development and shall define the general political
directions and priorities thereof. It shall not exercise legislative
functions.
2. The European Council shall consist of the Heads of State or
Government of the Member States, together with its President and the
President of the Commission. The High Representative of the Union
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy shall take part in its work.
3. The European Council shall meet twice every six months, convened
by its President. When the agenda so requires, the members of the
European Council may decide each to be assisted by a minister and, in
the case of the President of the Commission, by a member of the
Commission. When the situation so requires, the President shall
convene a special meeting of the European Council.
4. Except where the Treaties provide otherwise, decisions of the
European Council shall be taken by consensus.
5. The European Council shall elect its President, by a qualified
majority, for a term of two and a half years, renewable once. In the
event of an impediment or serious misconduct, the European Council
can end the President's term of office in accordance with the same
procedure.
6. The President of the European Council:
(a) shall chair it and drive forward its work;
(b) shall ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the
European Council in cooperation with the President of the
Commission, and on the basis of the work of the General Affairs
Council;
(c) shall endeavour to facilitate cohesion and consensus within the
European Council;
(d) shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the
meetings of the European Council.
The President of the European Council shall, at his level and in that
capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues
concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice
to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy.
The President of the European Council shall not hold a national office.
Year
Nr
Meeting
Meeting
(term) Meetings Date 1
Date 2
1975 (1)
1
11-3-1975
1975 (2)
2
17-7-1975 2-12-1975
1976 (1)
1
2-4-1976
1976 (2)
2
13-7-1976 30-11-1976
1977 (1)
2
26-3-1977 30-6-1977
1977 (2)
1
6-12-1977
1978 (1)
1
8-4-1978
1978 (2)
2
7-7-1978 5-12-1978
1979 (1)
2
13-3-1979 22-6-1979
1979 (2)
1
30-11-1979
1980 (1)
2
28-4-1980 12-6-1980
1980 (2)
1
2-12-1980
1981 (1)
2
24-3-1981 30-6-1981
1981 (2)
1
27-11-1981
1982 (1)
2
30-3-1982 29-6-1982
1982 (2)
1
4-12-1982
Meeting
Date 3
Meeting
Date 4
185
Nr ConMeeting
Presidency/
clusions
Place
President
1
Dublin
Ireland
2
Brussels/ Rome
Italy
1
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
2
Brussels/ The Hague
Netherlands
2
Rome/ London
United Kingdom
1
Brussels
Belgium
1
Copenhagen
Denmark
2
Bremen/ Brussels
Germany
2
Paris/ Strasbourg
France
1
Dublin
Ireland
2
Luxembourg/ Venice
Italy
1
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
2
Maastricht/ Luxembourg
Netherlands
1
London
United Kingdom
2
Brussels/ Brussels
Belgium
1
Copenhagen
Denmark
Annex 2: European Council Meetings and Conclusions, 1975–2012
Annexes
Annexes
185
186
1983 (1)
1983 (2)
1984 (1)
1984 (2)
1985 (1)
1985 (2)
1986 (1)
1986 (2)
1987 (1)
1987 (2)
1988 (1)
1988 (2)
1989 (1)
1989 (2)
1990 (1)
1990 (2)
1991 (1)
1991 (2)
186
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
22-3-1983
6-12-1983
20-3-1984
4-12-1984
30-3-1985
3-12-1985
26-6-1986
6-12-1986
30-6-1987
5-12-1987
13-2-1988
3-12-1988
27-6-1989
18-11-1989
28-4-1990
28-10-1990
8-4-1991
11-12-1991
9-12-1989
26-6-1990
15-12-1990
29-6-1991
28-6-1988
29-6-1985
26-6-1984
19-6-1983
2
0
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
0
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
Brussels/ Stuttgart
Athens
Brussels/ Fontainebleau
Dublin
Brussels/ Milan
Luxembourg
The Hague
London
Brussels
Copenhagen
Brussels/ Hanover
Rhodes
Madrid
Paris/ Strasbourg
Dublin/ Dublin
Rome/ Rome
Luxembourg
Maastricht
Germany
Greece
France
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Belgium
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Spain
France
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
2
2
2
1992 (1)
1992 (2)
1993 (1)
1993 (2)
1994 (1)
1994 (2)
1995 (1)
1995 (2)
1996 (1)
1996 (2)
1997 (1)
1997 (2)
1998 (1)
1998 (2)
1999 (1)
1999 (2)
2000 (1)
2000 (2)
10-12-1994
27-6-1995
16-12-1995
22-6-1996
14-12-1996
17-6-1997
11-12-1993
13-12-1992
25-3-1999
16-10-1999 11-12-1999
24-3-2000 20-6-2000
14-10-2000 9-12-2000
26-2-1999
3-5-1998 16-6-1998
25-10-1998 12-12-1998
21-11-1997 13-12-1997
27-6-1992
16-10-1992
22-6-1993
29-10-1993
25-6-1994
15-7-1994
9-6-1995
23-9-1995
29-3-1996
5-10-1996
23-5-1997
14-4-1999
4-6-1999
2
2
1
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
187
Lisbon
Portugal
Birmingham/ Edinburgh United Kingdom
Copenhagen
Denmark
Brussels/ Brussels
Belgium
Corfu
Greece
Brussels/ Essen
Germany
Paris/ Cannes
France
Mallorca/ Madrid
Spain
Turin/ Florence
Italy
Dublin/ Dublin
Ireland
Noordwijk/ Amsterdam
Netherlands
Luxembourg/
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Brussels/ Cardiff
United Kingdom
Pörtschach/ Vienna
Austria
Petersberg/ Berlin/
Germany
Brussels/ Cologne
Tampere/ Helsinki
Finland
Lisbon/ Feira (Porto)
Portugal
Biarritz/ Nice
France
Annexes
Annexes
187
3
2
2
4
3
4
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
3
2001 (2)
2002 (1)
2002 (2)
2003 (1)
2003 (2)
2004 (1)
2004 (2)
2005 (1)
2005 (2)
2006 (1)
2006 (2)
2007 (1)
2007 (2)
2008 (1)
2008 (2)
188
2
2001 (1)
188
21-3-2003
29-10-2004
23-3-2005
27-10-2005
24-3-2006
20-10-2006
9-3-2007
19-10-2007
14-3-2008
1-9-2008
26-3-2004
18-6-2004
5-11-2004 17-12-2004
17-6-2005
16-12-2005
16-6-2006
15-12-2006
25-3-2007 22-6-2007
14-12-2007
20-6-2008
16-10-2008 12-12-2008
1-5-2004
17-10-2003 12-12-2003
17-2-2003
16-4-2003
19-10-2001 15-12-2001
16-6-2001
16-3-2002 22-6-2002
25-10-2002 13-12-2002
21-9-2001
24-3-2001
29-6-2004
20-6-2003
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
3
2
2
3
2
2
3
2
Stockholm/ Göteborg
Sweden
Brussels/ Ghent/ Laeken
Belgium
(Brussels)
Barcelona/ Seville
Spain
Brussels/ Copenhagen
Denmark
Brussels/ Brussels/
Greece
Athens/ Thessaloniki
Rome/ Brussels
Italy
Brussels/ Dublin/
Ireland
Brussels/ Brussels
Rome/ Brussels/ Brussels
Netherlands
Brussels/ Brussels
Luxembourg
Hampton Court/ Brussels United Kingdom
Brussels/ Brussels
Austria
Lahti/ Brussels
Finland
Brussels/ Berlin/ Brussels
Germany
Brussels/ Lisbon/ Brussels
Portugal
Brussels/ Brussels
Slovenia
Brussels/ Brussels/ Brussels
France
4
4
3
4
3
4
3
2009 (2)
2010 (1)
2010 (2)
2011 (1)
2011 (2)
2012 (1)
2012 (2)
19-6-2009
26-3-2010
17-6-2010
11-3-2011
2-3-2012
23-5-2012
9-12-2011
25-3-2011
19-10-2012 23-11-2012 14-12-2012
30-1-2012
23-10-2011 26-10-2011
4-2-2011
16-9-2010 29-10-2010 17-12-2010
11-2-2010
29-6-2012
24-6-2011
17-9-2009 30-10-2009 19-11-2009 11-12-2009
20-3-2009
3
3
3
4
3
2
3
2
Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/
Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/
Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/
Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/
Brussels/ Brussels
Brussels/ Brussels/ Brussels
189
Herman van
Pompuy (semipermanent
President since
1st December
2009)
Sweden
Czech Republic
Notes: Box in grey = no Conclusions issued; Underlined date = informal meeting; Date in italics = extraordinary meeting.
2
2009 (1)
Annexes
Annexes
189
Annex 3: Dataset of Policy-Content-Coded European Council
Conclusions
The European Council Conclusions dataset was developed within the framework of
the Comparative Agendas Project. This project started in the early 1990s with the
work of Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones on the US (cf. also Baumgartner, Jones,
& MacLeod, 1998; Baumgartner & Jones, 2005). The international collaboration
network built over the years90 is united around a shared notion about the way policy
venues process issues and uses a common instrument for detecting attention patterns
in such venues. In particular, the approach consists of measuring attention to policy
issues via classifying the occurrence of these issues in texts on the basis of a detailed
typology of policy fields. This process is conducted via a common codebook with
most features of it shared by the Policy Agendas community, but also adjusted to
national differences in each of the individual projects, including the EU.
Over the course of 2010-2011 (with an update in 2013) two teams of researchers and
student assistants at Catania and The Hague conducted content coding of the
European Council Conclusions. The work stated by collecting all issued Conclusions
(some of which were then not publicly available) and recording some basic data about
them and their context. In particular, the following elements were traced: the date of
the meeting, the year, the location, the member state holding the Presidency (relevant
until the introduction of a permanent president in December 2009), the consecutive
number of the Presidency (again, until 2009), and the type of meeting (three separate
variables indicate whether the summit was informal, extraordinary, and Council
meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government). Then, the coding could
begin. It involved two steps – identifying measurement units and applying policy
agendas codes. The measurement unit chosen for the project was quasi-sentence – the
lowest possible entity with policy content. This labour-intensive approach was
necessary in order to reflect as closely as possible the true allocation of attention, since
the Conclusions cover a multiplicity of issues and even single paragraphs usually
90
See www.comparativeagendas.info for an overview of the various projects within the
network.
190
Annexes
contain several topics. The method is similar to the approach taken in the
Comparative Manifestos Project (Budge et al., 2001; Klingemann et al., 1994). The
second step in the coding processes consisted of assigning codes from the EU policy
agendas codebook.
The main variable in the dataset records policy content. The policy agendas topic
codes consist of two levels: major topics, which cover broad policy areas, and
subtopics, which indicate specific issues within those areas. The EU codebook
(version 3.2 of October 2013) contains 21 major topics and 250 subtopics.91 Within
each major topic the first subtopic covers general matters in that category and all the
remaining ones correspond to specific matters. For example, the topic environment
has as a first subtopic ‘environment – general’ followed by other subtopics as waste
disposal, land and water conservation, air and noise pollution, etc. This two-level
coding offers a standard aggregation of policy issues within broader themes but also
allows for specific aggregations depending on the research question. Three additional
dummy variables trace cross-cutting policy issues, namely foreign policy, cohesion and
structural policy, and enlargement. For example, administrative reform and good
governance in Afghanistan would be coded with the respective issue code for
bureaucratic oversight and government efficiency under the major topic governance
but it will also be assigned the foreign policy dummy. This allows for further
restructuring of the dataset for specific purposes. Furthermore, the coding also
identifies references to countries within and outside of the EU with two variables – an
international country code (which also includes international organisations) and an EU
Member State code. In the above mentioned example the respective code for
Afghanistan would be assigned. Last but not least, the full text of the Conclusions is
preserved, easily allowing extensions of the dataset in the future. A variable indicates
which quasi-sentences belong to the main text and which are part of the annexes to
the Conclusions.
After extensive checking, in December 2013 the full dataset was released for noncommercial public use. It consists of 44755 quasi-sentences, in 43561 of which policy
91
Available at: www.policyagendas.eu/codebook
191
content has been identified. The most frequently occurring subtopics are some of the
general categories – foreign policy, macroeconomics, employment, defence, and
governance, whereas 47 topics have been used less than 10 times each. Among the
most often coded specific issues are government budget and debt, monetary policy,
international economic development, treaty reform, and Common Market. This
diversity becomes even more pronounced when differences in attention over time are
considered.
All five chapters in this dissertation make use of the dataset in substantial terms. It is
either the only data source (chapters 2 and 3) or one of the main databases (chapters
4, 5 and 6). A general overview of the relative size of the main topics on the agenda is
presented in the second chapter of this dissertation.92 This study covers the period
1975-2010 only as the last two years of coding were still under development at the
time of writing (and article publication). The chapter relies exclusively on the compiled
dataset and applies the measures of kurtosis and entropy to on the major topic level. It
aggregates the Conclusions annually in order to make comparisons with existing
studies in different contexts easier.
The third chapter also focuses on the major topic level but proposes a half-annual
aggregation, as this was the most appropriate planning structure for the European
Council until the Treaty of Lisbon. The full dataset is subjected to data reduction
techniques (multidimensional scaling) with the aim to disentangle the main dimensions
of the agenda and explore their development over time. In the last stage additional
data sources are included in order to predict the temporal evolution of one of the
discovered dimensions.
The remaining three chapters use the Conclusions in combination with other data.
They also extract only a part of the European Council dataset. Chapter four analyses
the role of the Presidency in agenda setting by focusing on the domestic agendas of
five EU member states. For this purpose the Conclusions are integrated with data on
executive speeches content-coded within the Comparative Agendas Project. Hence,
92
Other general representations are published in Alexandrova, Carammia, and Timmermans
(2014) and Alexandrova et al. (2014).
192
Annexes
only 25 half-annual terms are considered in the analysis – those in which one of the
selected five countries was in charge of the EU Presidency.
Chapter five connects the Conclusions to data on EU-level public opinion in terms of
the so-called ‘most important problem' question. This question offers respondents a
list of issues out of which they can indicate up to two matters as the most important
for them at the moment of the survey. The list is limited, and 10 matches of
questionnaire issues could be made to those in the codebook (singe codes or a
combination of a few codes). The data for relative attention on these 10 policy areas
was extracted from the Conclusions dataset. The aggregation was again half-annual
and the period used was 2003–2012 due to the shorter existence of the public opinion
measure.
Chapter six combines the European Council attention with data on potential focusing
events from three different sources. The study does not use the compiled dataset to its
full scope, but only a basis for further development. In particular, after a review of the
text of all Conclusions, focusing events on the agenda were identified. The presence
or absence of these occurrences was then coded in the new dataset of potential
focusing events. Furthermore, the attention spent to each occurrence was recorded in
relative terms to the other issues on the agenda. This calculation was possible because
of the quasi-sentences level division of the European Council dataset. The policy topic
codes allowed drawing a short descriptive overview of the policy areas with which the
effective focusing were associated.
193
194