The Structure, Decision-Making Process and Actors in the EU Intergovernmental Conference

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.22.2025.100.07

Abstract

The subject of the analysis is the structure, decision-making process and actors of the intergovernmental conference as an instrument for the revision of the European Union’s political system. The author divides intergovernmental conferences into constitutional conferences and conferences ad hoc. The analysis leads the author to two main conclusions. Firstly, an intergovernmental conference is a diplomatic conference where representatives of the governments of the European Union member states negotiate to prepare a founding or revision treaty of the EU. However, an intergovernmental conference differs from a classical international conference within the meaning of the Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969. Secondly, the greatest influence on the course and outcome of an intergovernmental conference is exerted by the governments of the Member States and the intergovernmental institutions of the EU, while the role of the supranational institutions of the EU is limited.

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Author Biography

  • Janusz Józef Węc, Jagiellonian University

    Full Professor, PhD, Professor of Humanities in recent world history, and international relations. Head of the Department of Integration Processes Studies at the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Head of the European Commission Jean Monnet Chair research and teaching project from 2016-2019, and member of the Research Group on Global Governance at UNA EUROPA University Alliance Europe from 2020-2022. Author of more than 300 scientific publications published at home and abroad, including 22 monographs and syntheses on the system of the European Communities and the European Union, the processes of economic integration in the world, Polish-German relations, recent German history, and the German political system. Selected monographs: The System Reform of the Economic and Monetary Union (2010-2022). Dynamics – Successes – Failures (Lusanne 2023); Germany’s Position on the System Reform of the European Union in 2002-2016 (Berlin 2018); Traktat Lizboński. Polityczne aspekty reform ustrojowej Unii Europejskiej w latach 2007-2015. Orzecznictwo sądów konstytucyjnych
    wybranych państw członkowskich UE oraz proces implementacji traktatu lizbońskiego [The Treaty of Lisbon. The Political Aspects of the System Reform of the European Union in 2007–2015. The Case-law of the Constitutional Courts of selected Member States of the EU and the Implementation of the Lisbon Treaty] (Krakow 2016); Pierwsza polska prezydencja w Unii Europejskiej. Uwarunkowania – procesy decyzyjne – osiągnięcia i niepowodzenia [Poland’s first Presidency in the European Union. Conditions – Decision-making – Successes and failures] (Krakow 2012); Spór o kształt ustrojowy Wspólnot Wspólnot Europejskich i Unii Europejskiej w latach 1950-2010. Między ideą ponadnarodowości a współpracą międzyrządową [The Dispute over the Constitutional Status of the European Communities and the European Union in 1950–2010. Between the Idea of Supranationality and Intergovernmental Cooperation] (Krakow 2012).

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Published

28-11-2025

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Vol. 22 No. 6(100) (2025)

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Articles

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How to Cite

“The Structure, Decision-Making Process and Actors in the EU Intergovernmental Conference”. 2025. Politeja 22 (6(100): 123-37. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.22.2025.100.07.