Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Salience as the intensity of interest is a key explanatory factor of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>uropean <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U</jats:styled-content>nion decision‐making. In this article, the ability of three explanatory models to explain the realized values of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">M</jats:styled-content>ember <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>tates’ salience is hypothesized and tested. On the basis of the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DEU II</jats:styled-content> data, the analysis shows that a mixture of national interest group heterogeneity and membership length has the highest predictive power. The results support the liberal intergovernmentalist claim that domestic interests determine <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>uropean decision‐making.</jats:p>