ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the negotiations at Saint Malo and at the Nice Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). It argues that the government's negotiators controlled the development of ESDP to ensure that the policy reflected core UK preferences and provided the largest win-set possible on a policy issue on which the Labour government was wary for historical reasons. The Saint Malo Accords gave ESDP a significant momentum because of the perception that the UK and French governments had diametrically opposed views on European security. The chapter argues that most of the ESDP negotiations occurred outside of formal EU frameworks, including the Saint Malo Accords in December 1998. It presents strong evidence that governments act as 'gatekeepers' between domestic politics and pressure groups and the other EU negotiators. Part of the liberal intergovernmentalist conception of Europeanization is that governments act as 'gate-keepers' between the domestic political system and the international bargaining table.
