Introduction: Studying Leaders’ Behaviour in the European Council

Although the EU leadership tends to be disputed, the European Council is the main leadership body of the European Union ever since its establishment. This books aims to clarify the institution’s impact on leaders’ styles, their impact on the European Council environment and their mutual impact on decision-making. It finds that cooperative leadership styles are best suited for the use in the European Council since its structure is based on negotiations leading to consensus. In turn, the European Council environment affects leaders’ styles and decision-making in the direction of socialisation towards cooperation, compromise making and Europeanisation.