Behind closed doors: informal governance in intergovernmental decision-making during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations

Dimitrios Kandilaptis; Sebastiaan Princen

doi:10.1080/07036337.2026.2638224

Behind closed doors: informal governance in intergovernmental decision-making during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations

Dimitrios Kandilaptis
, Sebastiaan Princen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This paper analyses the negotiations leading up to the third Greek bailout package in 2015. Those negotiations were subject to both intergovernmental and postfunctional dynamics as they largely took place between member state governments that were subject to strong pressures from domestic public opinion. Based on documents and a set of 17 interviews with actors involved in the negotiations, the paper traces how an agreement was reached within these broader dynamics. It argues that, in the end, political leaders were able to overcome domestic pressures by resorting to forms of informal governance at the EU-level that shielded them from domestic scrutiny. By highlighting and unravelling the role of informal governance, the paper adds to existing studies that seek to identify under what conditions postfunctionalist pressures affect intergovernmental negotiations in the EU.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of European Integration
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2026.2638224
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 3 Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

The day after the referendum, Germany and France decided that they wanted Greece to remain in the Euro Area. Greece took a step towards the EU by requesting funding from the European Stability Mechanism. Despite efforts to destabilize this process by the German Ministry of Finance, the three leaders – Tsipras, Merkel and Hollande – were determined to conclude an agreement. This determination culminated in a behind-closed-doors agreement on July 12, despite politicization, ideological differences and the referendum. Moreover, while the agreement put to the referendum offered only five months of funding for Greece, the final agreement, reached during the behind-closed-doors meeting between Tsipras, Hollande and Merkel, provided three years of funding and measures. This resulted in a more stable situation for both Greece and the Euro Area. In other words, after the referendum, a more favourable agreement for EU integration was reached, contrary to the breakdown of negotiations that postfunctionalism would have predicted.

Funders
Emory University
European Stability Mechanism

Keywords

Euro crisis
European Union
informal governance
intergovernmentalism
postfunctionalism

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10.1080/07036337.2026.2638224Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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Behind closed doors: informal governance in intergovernmental decision-making during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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