ABSTRACT
This chapter looks more closely at the voting patterns in the EU Council after the 'big bang' enlargement of 2004. The Single European Act which did away with the legacy of the Luxembourg compromise, yet the consensus reflex has prevailed ever since, as noticed by those who were writing about the EC decision-making immediately after the SEA's entry into force. The data confirms the findings of Golub, who claims that, paradoxically, in the course of the history of EU integration, the EU enlargements have increased the speed of decision-making. According to many practitioners, after the change of government to a pro-European coalition led by the Civic Platform party, the climate changed enormously. Even if, however, the quality of the EU output has been somewhat impaired by the latest enlargement, it still remains the fact that the EU decision-making system has proved a remarkable ability to adjust itself to changing circumstances.
