This paper focuses on the construction of national positions defended during European negotiations. This activity has three dimensions: inter-ministerial negotiations, mediations between negotiators operating in either the national or the European political space, and the degree of access for actors outside of public policy communities. Based on research on the French and British cases in the field of law enforcement and judicial cooperation, our analysis reveals that while these two member states share the same preoccupation for a strongly centralized system of coordination based on specialized ministries, differences exist over the degree of inter-administrative competition and links to politics this entails.