ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that European Union (EU) members' representation in the Council, the decision quota and the size of membership not only matter for the distribution of a priori voting power among the member states, but also affect the distribution of power among the EU's institutions. As researchers applying the spatial theory of voting and extensive-form games to EU decision-making have shown, the preferences of EU member states, in combination with the particularities of legislative procedures, crucially influence policy results. A member state's overall voting strength will be expressed in terms of the size of its representation in the Council and EP respectively, again utilising the pre-Nice voting weights. Accordingly, ceteris paribus, the higher the hurdle to pass decisions within the Council, and the larger EU membership, the weaker will be the influence of the EP as an institution in the EU's overall decision-making process, reinforcing EU intergovernmentalism.
