The elephant in the room: the European Council’s dominance in core state powers during times of crisis

This article examines the role of the European Council in shaping the EU’s policy response to three crises in ‘core state power’ policy areas, namely the COVID-19 pandemic (budgetary and financial assistance policy), the Russian invasion of Ukraine (common foreign and security policy) and the rule of law controversy (identity and constitutional policy). It carries out a theory-building process-tracing analysis of dominance exerted by the European Council over the decision-making process that led to the establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, sanctions against Russia and the rule of law conditionality system respectively. The findings shed light on exactly how the European Council, in the presence of crises involving ‘core state powers’, is able to exercise decision-making powers beyond the letter of the treaties, relegating the other EU institutions to a consultative or implementing role. These findings can be generalised across different crises framed at the EU level which tap into the realm of core state powers.