Political interest in Research Infrastructures on a European scale has been a new phenomenon, marked in the early 2000s with the launch of the Lisbon Strategy and the European Research Area. European Research Infrastructure policy then developed through, first, the strategic incorporation of incumbents through new modes of coordination; second, the European Commission's emphasis of joint responsibility at the supranational level, claiming its own accountability and mobilizing the subsidiarity principle to its advantage; third, the incentivization of conformity to the European Commission's policy agenda through generous financial schemes and fourth, the implementation of tailor-made legislation. While this topic speaks to current debates in EU studies, it also amends analyses of Big Science as an empirical puzzle within European politics and integration and launches a scholarly effort to come to terms with the new phenomenon of Research Infrastructures.