Angela Merkel's “method speech” in Bruges on 2 November 2010, and Germany's recent policy positions, have relaunched debate on the use of the intergovernmental method at the expense of the community method in the pursuit of European integration. This policy brief examines the difference between the two methods and the potential consequences of their application to certain policy areas currently in the news.

The new permanent presidency of the European Council (an innovation of the Lisbon Treaty) and a succession of international and economic crises have lead to a multiplicator of EU summit meetings over the last few semesters. These meetings have given a new urgency and relevance to the classic debate between supporters of the “community method” and those of the “intergovernmental method”. The debate already surfaced at the time of the European Convention, in particular, see the contribution by Michel Barnier and Antonio Vitorino, and was recently fed by Angela Merkel’s “method speech” in Bruges on 2 November 2010. Notre Europe has asked two eminent specialists and practitioners of European integration, Paolo Ponzano and Philippe de Schoutheete, to clarify the terms of this debate and to describe their vision of the current developments and the consequences – positive and negative – for the EU. Notre Europe will invite researchers and interested observers to respond to these contributions and to participate to this debate – superficially theoretical – with an uncertain outcome which is decisive for the future of European integration.