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This paper examines how the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats negotiated and agreed the Coalitions approach to the EU with a view to shed light on how each party exerted influence over this policy area. For that purpose the article analyses how the two parties of the Coalition negotiated the programme of government, agreed on the distribution of government portfolios and have handled three of most divisive European issues faced by the Coalition, namely the European Union Act 2011, the exercise of the veto at the December 2011 EU summit and the announcement of the referendum on EU membership. The article argues that the Conservatives are the drivers of the Coalitions approach to the EU however the Liberal Democrats have acted as navigators ensuring, most of the time, that the agreed roadmap is respected.
