Michael W. Bauer

Die Europäische Union durchlebt turbulente Zeiten. Die Auswirkungen der Banken- und Staatsschuldenkrisen, die aktuellen Migrationsbewegungen sowie der Austritt Großbritanniens sind nur einige der Herausforderungen, die den Zusammenhalt der Europäischen Union gegenwärtig auf eine harte Probe stellen. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysieren die Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler in diesem Band die Europäische Kommission. Ziel ist eine Bestandaufnahme und Neubewertung ihrer Rolle im politischen System der EU, ihrer internen Organisationsstrukturen und Prozesse sowie ihrer Politikgestaltungs- und Implementationsfunktionen. Der Band kommt dabei zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Kommission trotz der zahlreichen Herausforderungen nach wie vor entscheidenden Einfluss auf das Integrationsgeschehen hat. Die Gründe dafür liegen dabei sowohl in den absichtsvollen Entscheidungen der Mitgliedsstaaten, als auch im politischen Aktivismus der Kommission selbst. Mit Beiträgen von Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels, Marieke Eckhardt, Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, Michael C. Wolf, Dr. Christian Adam, Prof. Dr. Miriam Hartlapp, Dipl.-Jur. Robert Böttner, Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Tömmel, Prof. Dr. Sandra Eckert, Prof. Dr. Michèle Knodt, Prof. Dr. Marc Ringel, Prof. Dr. Hussein Kassim, Prof. Dr. Sara Connolly, Prof. Dr. Michael W. Bauer, Dr. Jörn Ege, Stefan Becker, M.A.. The European Union is going through turbulent times. The aftermath of the eurozone crisis, the challenges posed by increasing migration and the Brexit negotiations are just some of the recent challenges that have threatened the future of the Union. It is against this background that this volume brings together contributions by a variety of scholars from different academic disciplines. Focusing on the role of the Commission within the institutional system of the EU, its internal structures and processes as well as its policymaking and implementation activities, this book addresses some of the most pressing empirical and theoretical questions that have surrounded the Commission in recent years. While the last decade has intensified the challenges faced by this institution, this book’s main contention is that the Commission’s central position has partly endured as a result of deliberate decisions made by the EU’s member states, and partly through the Commission’s own activism. With contributions by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels, Marieke Eckhardt, Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, Michael C. Wolf, Dr. Christian Adam, Prof. Dr. Miriam Hartlapp, Dipl.-Jur. Robert Böttner, Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Tömmel, Prof. Dr. Sandra Eckert, Prof. Dr. Michèle Knodt, Prof. Dr. Marc Ringel, Prof. Dr. Hussein Kassim, Prof. Dr. Sara Connolly, Prof. Dr. Michael W. Bauer, Dr. Jörn Ege, Stefan Becker, M.A.

Against a background of institutional change and organizational reform, we analyze the politicization of the European Commission’s bureaucracy. Politicization can generally be defined as the substitution of bureaucratic neutrality by introducing political considerations into the human resource management and behaviour of civil servants. The concepts of direct and professional politicization serve as vantage points for our analysis. The empirical data are taken from documentary analysis and recent online and semi-structured surveys of Commission officials. We show that Commission bureaucrats, although they are highly sensitive to the political side of their job, are less politicized since the Kinnock reforms than before. While the College of the Commission seems to have indeed become more politically responsive to its supranational peers and national governments, the Commission’s bureaucracy can be characterized as weakly politicized or, according to current debates, as quite instrumental in a Neo-Weberian sense. Points for practitioners: Distinction between ‘direct’ and ‘professional’ politicization. We see de-politicization at service level but a stronger political role for the College of the Commission. Evidence for the high quality and high professionalism of the Commission service.