European integration since the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht has been characterized by an integration paradox. The review of key institutional choices at Maastricht and beyond demonstrates that member states were eager to avoid further transfers of ultimate decision-making powers to the supranational level, but were equally keen to expand cooperation to all major domains of public policy. These include the new areas of European Union activity economic governance, foreign, security and defence policy as well as employment and new aspects of social policy. These areas were mainly developed outside the community method and are at the centre of the new intergovernmentalism that currently shapes the image of EU politics. Policy coordination as a governance method has expanded massively in the post-Maastricht era and has informed permanent quests for consensus among member state governments.