In recent years, the failure of the constitutional process, the difficult ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, as well as the several crises affecting Europe have revitalized the debate on the nature of the European polity and the balance of powers in Brussels. This book explains the redistribution of power in the post-Lisbon EU with a focus on the European Council.

1. Introduction François Foret and Yann-Sven Rittelmeyer PART I: The European Council as an institution and a policy-maker 2. The Institutional Consecration of the European Council: Symbolism beyond Formal TextsYann-Sven Rittelmeyer 3. More than a Prestigious Spokesperson - the Role of Summits and the European Council in European Political Co-operation (EPC), 1969-1981 Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol 4. EU High Politics - the Policy Agenda of the European Council, 1975-2011 Petya Alexandrova, Marcello Carammia and Arco Timmermans PART II: The EU Presidency and the European Council - complementary or competitive? 5. What's Left of the Rotating Presidency? The Future of 'National' PresidenciesSimone Bunse and Christopher Klein 6. The Communautarization of the Council Presidency - Intra-institutional Dimensions and Inter-institutional Effect Ana Mar Fernández Pasarín 7. The Council Presidency and the European Council - Towards Collective Leadership in the EU Steven Van Hecke and Peter Bursens PART III: Legitimization of the European Union 8. An Expectation-Outcome Gap Writ Large - the Felipe González Reflection Group Revisited Lars Hoffman and Hartmut Mayer 9. Legitimacy in Numbers? Communicative Aspects of the Post-Lisbon EU François Foret 10. Problems of Compound Representation in the European Union after Lisbon Christopher Lord

François Foret is Jean Monnet professor in political science and European studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

Yann-Sven Rittelmeyer is Research Fellow in the Study Committee for Franco-German Relations (Cerfa) at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Paris, France.