»Wandel durch Annäherung«: Multinormativität und informelle Politik in der europäischen Integration zwischen den 1960er und 1990er-Jahren

The article scrutinises the institutional culture of European integration, with a particular focus on the decision-making procedures of the European Community in the period from the 1960s to the 1990s. ‘Soft Law’ played a key role in the normative and administrative development and differentiation of the Community, because it crystallised legal, political, cultural, and administrative norms. More specifically, the article demonstrates how the procedural norm of consensus became gradually challenged (and weakened) by the rise of majority voting in the Community. The article thus illustrates how the process of Europeanisation (‘Annäherung’) can contribute to normative change (‘Wandel’).