This paper explores the potential unintended consequences of transparency in intergovernmental negotiations,
namely the shift of deliberations to more opaque venues as official meetings open up to the public. The study is based on an original dataset of informal meal breaks during meetings of the EU’s Council of Ministers between 1990 and 2018. It explores if and under what conditions governments resort to these informal breaks where no minutes are being taken to discuss topics away from public gaze. Using a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques, I find that there has been substantial increase in the use of informal lunch breaks for that purpose as Council meetings opened up to the public. Lunch discussion often deal with controversial topics, sometimes of legislative nature, and are xxx likely as domestic conflicts over EU politics rises. The findings have implications for negotiation studies, work on transparency in international organizations, informal governance, and EU politics. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of intergovernmental negotiations under pandemic conditions and the normative implications of secluded meetings.
Dr. Mareike Kleine is Associate Professor in EU and International Politics at European Institute, LSE. Her research interests include theories of international organisation and International Political Economy, informal and formal governance, the interplay of domestic politics and international institutions, negotiation theories and normative questions of global governance.
Dr. Theresa Squatrito is Assistant Professor at Department of International Relations, LSE.