Abstract

In this article a political liberal standard of legitimate EU intergovernmental compromises is constructed. Political liberalism is first rescued from the criticism of political realists, who view it as moralist and reject it as irrelevant to political practice. John Rawls’ social contract theory is defended as an interpretive theory of politics instead. The political liberal framework is then adapted to the case of intergovernmental cooperation between EU member states, after which a standard of legitimate compromise is developed. The application of this standard to the case of negotiation and decision making by EU member state governments illustrates the relevance and versatility of Rawls’ approach.