Contents

I Introduction...... 3 1.1 The Commission Presidency: The State of Research...... 3 1.2 The Commission President and Political Leadership...... 6 1.3 Investigating Political Leadership Performance...... 10 1.3.1 Case Studies...... 13 1.3.2 Data Sourees...... 14 1.3.3 Main Pindings...... 15 1.4 Outline of the Study...... 17

II Theoretical Foundations: Leadership in Supranational Governance...... 18 2.1 The Commission Presidency and Theories of European ...... Integration 18 2.2 Between Power and Authority: What Qualifies as Political Leadership?...... 22 2.3 Researching Political Leadership: The Roots of the Interactionist...... Approach27 2.4 From Context to Conduct: Operationalizing Leadership...... Analysis 34 2.5 Conclusion...... 45

III The Presidency of the European Commission...... 48 3.1 The Leadership Demands: Between Politics and Technocracy...... 48 3.2 The Institutional Structure: Between Weak Resources and Strong ...... Constraints54 3.2.1 The Institutional Resources of the Commission Presidency...... 55 3.2.2 The Institutional Constraints of the Commission Presidency...... 59 3.2.3 The Leadership Potential of the Commission Presidency...... 62 3.3 The Situational Setting: Between Continuity and...... Change 64 3.3.1 The Foundation of the Three Communities (1950-67)...... 65 3.3.2 The European Communities (1967-85)...... 68 3.3.3 From the European Communities to the European Union...... (1985-95)70 3.3.4 The European Union (1995-2014)...... 74 3.4 The Personal (Pre-)dispositions: Comparing Commission...... Presidents 78 3.4.1 Walter Hallstein: President of the EEC Commission (1958-67)...... 82 3.4.2 Jacques Delors: President of the EC Commission (1985-95)...... 87 3.4.3 Jose Barroso: President of the EU Commission (2004-14)...... 91 3.5 Conclusion: Cases, Research Question and Basic Argument...... 96

IV Research Design...... 100 4.1 Towards Validity: Designing A Structured, Focused Comparison...... 101 4.2 Towards Reliability: Making the Empirical Analysis...... Work 103 4.2.1 Research Strategy and Methods...... 104 4.2.2 Data Collection...... 107 4.2.3 Operationalization...... 113 4.3 Summary...... 115

V Front Stage: Performing Agenda-Setting Leadership...... 117 5.1 Agenda-Setting in Supranational Governance...... 117 5.2 Presidential Themes and Venues Over Time...... 122 5.2.1 Walter Hallstein: Explaining European Integration...... 124 5.2.2 Jacques Delors: Relaunching the Community...... 133 5.2.3 Jose Barroso: Searching for Attention...... 144 5.3 Presidential Rhetoric in the European Parliament...... 155 5.3.1 Walter Hallstein: Fostering a Political Project...... 155 5.3.2 Jacques Delors: Reconciling Vision and Pragmatism...... 164 5.3.3 Jose Barroso: Focusing on Form instead of Substance...... 173 5.4 Conclusion: Agenda-Setting Leadership in Perspective...... 183

VI Back Stage: Performing Mediative-Institutional Leadership...... 187 6.1 Institutional Mediation in European Decision-Making...... 188 6.2 The Commission Presidents and Modes of Mediative-Institutional Performances....196 6.2.1 Walter Hallstein: Shaping the EEC Commission...... 197 6.2.2 Jacques Delors: Taming the European Council...... 214 6.2.3 Jose Barroso: Streamlining the EU Commission...... 229 6.3 Conclusion: Mediative-Institutional Leadership in Perspective...... 245

VII The Audience: Performing Public Leadership...... 249 7.1 The Commission Presidency and a European Public...... Sphere 249 7.2 The Public Impact of Commission Presidents...... 254 7.3 The Public Convergence of Presidential Speeches...... 260 7.3.1 Walter Hallstein: “Hallstein looks ahead” ...... 261 7.3.2 Jacques Delors: “The EC’s very own visionary” ...... 269 7.3.3 Jose Barroso: “The accidental politician” ...... 276 7.4 Conclusion...... 284

VIII Conclusion...... 288 8.1 Assessing Political Leadership Performance...... 290 8.2.1 Agenda-Setting Leadership...... 291 8.2.2 Mediative-Institutional Leadership...... 293 8.2.3 Public Leadership...... 295 8.2 Political Leadership in Supranational Govemance...... 299 List of Figures and Tables...... 302 List of Abbreviations...... 303

References...... 305 I Archival Sourees...... 305 II Official Documents...... 307 III Websites...... 308 IV Bibliography...... 308

Appendix...... 319 I List of Speeches...... 319 la) Walter Hallstein (1958-67)...... 319 lb) Jacques Delors (1985-95)...... 331 lc) Jose Barroso (2004-14)...... 347 II Interviews...... 371 2a) List of Interviews...... 371 2b) List of Interviews from the Oral History Program...... 373 2c) Questionnaire for EU Officials...... 374 III Newspaper Coverage (Financial Times, London)...... 378 3a) Walter Hallstein (1958-67)...... 378 3b) Jacques Delors (1985-95)...... 380 3c) Jose Barroso (2004-14)...... 388