Does the National EU Policy Coordination System Matter?

The aim of this master thesis is to analyse the influence of domestic EU policy coordination systems on the representation of national interests during the presidency of the Council of the EU. The research analyses and compares four small EU member countries, having established different national coordination systems according to Kassim’s typology: Cyprus, Ireland, Lithuania and Greece. The study is based on historical institutionalism, more specifically, on its two key traits: a combination of rational and sociological aspects, and path-dependency. This theoretical approach contributes to the presidency studies, since it addresses changes the Treaty of Lisbon brought – the trio presidency. Four countries were selected following the rotating order of the office. Therefore, the analysis evaluates the impact of a successive element of the presidency, i.e. how much room for manoeuvre countries have for representing their national interests, simultaneously addressing inherited issues on the Council agenda. The research, examining youth unemployment issue, claims that path-dependency has a great influence on both national coordination systems and the representation of domestic priorities during the presidency term. Regarding the former, countries adopt new changes to existing domestic networks, whereas the latter is related to the obligation for presidencies to follow each other’s agenda and ensure the development of common policies. Regarding Kassim’s framework, the analysis proves that selective systems tend to be more efficient than comprehensive ones. The difference between centralized and decentralized systems is rather marginal, however, former ones are more effective than the latter.