Based on the authors' own extensive research and long-standing interest in the Council and its workings, The Council of Ministers provides a comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of the formal and informal roles, functions and processes of the EU's chief decision-making body and the ways these have evolved over time.

The book assesses the relationship of the Council to the other major EU institutions and with its member states, and examines the varying analyses, both explicit and implicit, of the Council as an institution and their implications for the future of European political integration.

The book looks behind the scenes to illustrate and explain how the Council and its sub-structures operate on a day-to-day basis, and why. Contrary to the perceived wisdom, it argues that the Council performs remarkably effectively, subject to the limits within which it is forced to operate. Those same limits, however, prevent the EU from developing a coherent form of collective government.