Intergovernmental method or community method: an irrelevant debate?

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.