An Inside View of the European Council and the Council of the European Union

In the following chapter, Jim Cloos and Pierre Vimont, two career diplomats who spent forty years in the corridors and indeed the rooms of both the European Council and the Council of the European Union, enter into a dialogue with Michel Mangenot and Luuk van Middelaar. Their account, which takes the form of an interview, reveals new insights into the mechanisms and workings of both institutions, based on their experiences and the evolutions they have witnessed throughout the years. One of the major developments has been the growing importance of the European Council and its President in the EU system. The chapter helps better understand the administrative conditions and effects of the new centrality of this institution.