Abstract: The Council of the European Union is the most important legislative body of the Union, which decides on the acceptance of legislation according to the rules prescribed in the Founding Treaties. As insiders and published data show, the majority of the legislation is approved by consensus. This paper deals with the infrequent cases when a country expresses its dissatisfaction with the fi nal agreement. The author discusses the ways of expressing dissatisfaction, the frequency of its use, and the reasons leading countries to this behaviour. On the basis of this review, in the conclusion several recommendations are off ered for increasing the transparency of Council’s proceedings without disturbing the balance of the decision-making process.

Keywords: Council of the European Union, decision-making, expression of disagreement, voting, statements, reserves