1. P. Magnette and K. Nicolaïdis, ‘Big vs. Small States in the EU: Reinventing the Balance’ (Notre Europe, Research Note No. 25 (2003)). M. Kohnstamm and G. Durand, ‘Common Nonsense — Defusing the escalating “Big vs. Small” Row’ (Brussels, European Police Center (2003)) available at: .
2. P. Magnette and K. Nicolaïdis, ‘The European Convention: Bargaining in the Shadow of Rhetoric’, 27 West European Politics (2004).
3. European Council (14–15 December 2001) Laeken Declaration (15 December 2001). ‘Conclusions of the Presidency. Annex I’. (SN300/1/01 REV 1) available at: .
4. See, for example, R. Baldwin and M. Widgren, ‘The Draft Constitutional Treaty’s Voting Reform Dilemma (CEPS Policy Briefs No. 44 (November 2003)) available at: ; R. Baldwin, et al., ‘Nice Try: Should the Nice Treaty be ratified?’, 11 Monitoring European Integration (CEPR 2001); and T. Raunio and M. Wiberg, ‘Winners and Losers in the Council: Voting Power Consequences of EU Enlargments’, 36 Journal of Common Market Studies (1998) pp. 549–562.
5. Ahern, cited in T. Brown, ‘Achieving Balance: Institutions and Member States’ (Federal Trust Online Paper, No. 1/04 (2004)). In addition, under QMV it is usually understood that big states retain an informal veto — but certainly not small states.