Decision-making: European Council, Council and Commission

The chapter retraces the interinstitutional dynamics connected to the adoption and implementation of NGEU. It maps the role of the Commission, the European Council and the Council from the approval of NGEU to its governance through NRRPs. It looks both at the legal framework of NGEU and at its institutional practice, uncovering two interconnected shifts within the EU executive power; namely, a centralisation of power under the leadership of the European Council, followed by an empowerment of the Commission in the implementation of NRRPs. However, this empowerment did not result from an intentional attribution of competences by political leaders at the height of the crisis. It was rather the de facto consequence of the choice to embed the crisis response within two policy areas traditionally managed by the Commission, cohesion policy and economic governance, and to ensure oversight and control of Member States’ NRRPs.