The European Commission, Nationality and Networks

2 THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, NATIONALITY AND NETWORKS Before going into the theoretical building blocks of studying the networks of European Commission officials, it is necessary to place the central variables of this thesis, nationality and networks, empirically into the organisational con- text of the European Commission. This description of the organisational structure and composition aims to set the stage for the subsequent discussion of why nationality matters in the Commission and how networks may affect policy-making. This portrayal is primarily based on official Commission documents and the existing literature on the Commission. 2.1 The Organisational Structure and Composition of the Commission The term European Commission refers to both the political and administrative branches of this organisation. The political wing is the College of Commission- ers, composed of one Commissioner per Member State – each assigned a policy portfolio for a period of five years. The President of the Commission has the primary responsibility of providing political guidance to the College. The Commissioners are assisted by their Cabinets in performing their tasks. The power of decision-making belongs to this political level of the Commission, whereas the Commission bureaucracy is responsible for preparing, managing and implementing the decisions of the College. The division of power between the political and bureaucratic level of the Commission is, however, not as clear-cut and simple as it seems. This has been a heated issue for debate when Commissioner Günter Verheugen complained of the power of Commission bureaucrats saying that “The Commissioners have to take extreme care that important questions are decided in their weekly 13 CHAPTER 2 meeting and not decided by the civil servants among themselves.”12 Commis- sioner Danita Hübner followed suit by arguing that Commissioners must be careful not to lose grip of things with the influence of the Commission’s civil servants on the rise. 13 As the foregoing statements imply, even though the formal decision- making power lies on the Commissioners, the Commission bureaucracy has considerable powers in terms of policy-making which makes the study of its internal workings a worthwhile endeavour. Yet, such a politics vs. bureaucracy debate is so inherent to administrations that it seems more appropriate to view it as yet another indication that the Commission has become “normalised” and embodies many of the organisational and behavioural patterns that are highly typical of executives as we know them from national settings (Egeberg 2006c: 2). Indeed, the bureaucratic divisions of the Commission are comparable to ministries in national administrations and the role of Commissioners to those of ministers. The Commission bureaucracy is currently composed of 23 DGs and seventeen services. 14 As the overview in Table 2.1 also demonstrates, the 23 DGs are responsible for specific policy areas including external relations, and the 17 services carry out administrative and executive tasks. The policy portfolios of Commissioners roughly correspond to the administrative divisions of the bureaucratic body of the Commission, i.e. each Commissioner is responsible for one DG. 15 The Commission has many of the characteristics of a classic Weberian bureaucracy (Page 1997, Hooghe 2001, Stevens and Stevens 2001, Spence and Ste- vens 2006). In terms of the division of labour and the execution of tasks, the following elements can be traced back to the Weberian model (Weber 1997: 197-199): there is a hierarchical division of labour whereby the lower ranks are supervised by/subordinated to higher ranks; office management follows rules and is based upon written documents (‘the files’); official activities are separate from private activities. 12 www.euobserver.com, Commission Bureaucrats are Getting too Powerful, says Ver- heugen, 5 October 2006. 13 www.euobserver.com, EU Commission Sees Civil Servants’ Power Grow, 22 February 2007. 14 The number of DGs and services are not fixed and are subject to internal reorganisations. 15 There are exceptions to this pattern: for instance, currently, whereas DG Health and Con- sumer Protection falls under the responsibility of two Commissioners, the Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud is responsible for eight services. 14 CHAPTER 2 TABLE 2.1: Overview of the DGs and Services of the Commission Policies General Services Agriculture and Rural Development Communication Competition European Anti-Fraud Office Economic and Financial Affairs Eurostat Education and Culture Publications Office Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Secretariat-General Opportunities 16 Enterprise and Industry Internal Services Environment Budget Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Bureau of European Policy Advisers Health and Consumer Protection Informatics Information Society and Media European Commission Data Protection Internal Market and Services Officer Joint Research Centre Infrastructures and Logistics - Brussels Justice, Freedom and Security 17 Infrastructures and Logistics - Luxem- Regional Policy bourg Research Internal Audit Service Taxation and Customs Union Interpretation Transport and Energy Legal Service Office for Administration and Payment External Relations of Individual Entitlements Development Personnel and Administration Enlargement Translation EuropeAid – Cooperation Office External Relations Humanitarian Aid Trade SOURCE: European Commission website http://ec.europa.eu/dgs_en.htm, consulted on 18 April 2007. In terms of recruitment and personnel policy, the Commission borrows the following Weberian principles (Weber 1997: 198-203): office holding presupposes expert training; recruitment is through special examinations; tenure is for life; official activities demand the full working capacity of the individual; there is a fixed salary according to rank and length of service; 16 Hereafter DG Employment. 17 Hereafter DG Justice. 15 CHAPTER 2 there is a hierarchical career ladder, moving from lower paid, less important positions to higher paid, more important positions; old-age security is provided by a pension. The following paragraphs explain how the Weberian elements are translated into the organisational structure of the Commission. The main pillars of the hierarchical division of labour in the Commission are the Directorates-General. The DGs are divided into directorates and directorates into units, which constitute the smallest organisational divisions. Figure 2.2 is a schematic representation of the Commission’s hierarchical order. FIGURE 2.2: Hierarchical Structure of the Commission Commission Pres ident Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Cabinet Directorate -General Direct orate Directorate Unit Unit Unit SOURCE: Mastenbroek and Suvarierol 2007, p. 95. The management structure follows these administrative divisions with Direc- tors-General, Directors and Heads of Unit respectively leading each hierarchical level. The size and make-up of DGs, Directorates and units vary depending on their role. Directors-General are often backed up by one or two deputy Di- rectors-General. Some Directors-General are assisted by specialist advisers, and all Directors-General are supported by at least one assistant. 18 Whereas the Commissioners, their Cabinets and the service DGs are located in the refur- bished Berlaymont building at the centre of the European Quarter, the Schu- 18 European Communities, 2005, The Commission in Close-up. How Decisions are Made , p. 11. 16 CHAPTER 2 man Point in Brussels, the policy DGs are scattered in and around the Euro- pean Quarter and a few are outside the city. 19 In terms of staff, the Commission is the largest of the EU institutions, with a total of over 32 000 officials. Even though the Commission sometimes has the image of being a large bureaucratic organ, it is “about as big as the local au- thority of a medium-sized European city”. 20 Furthermore, the administrative costs of running the EU amount to just over 5% of EU spending. 21 The majority of Commission officials, amounting to over 23 000, are permanent and have tenure for life, a fixed salary according to rank and length of service and an old-age pension guarantee. However, the budgetary stringency in terms of administrative costs, coupled with the growing workload has led the Commis- sion to rely increasingly on temporary officials (Trondal 2004: 70-71, Trondal et al. 2007: 5), which currently number 9 000 officials. Table 2.3 displays the cur- rent staffing figures in the Commission. TABLE 2.3: Number of Commission Officials PERMANENT OFFICIALS Administrators (AD) 11464 Assistants (AST) 11579 Total Permanent 23043 TEMPORARY OFFICIALS Contract Agents 5784 Seconded National Experts (SNEs) 1108 Other 2127 Total Temporary 9019 TOTAL COMMISSION OFFICIALS 32062 SOURCE: Statistical Bulletin of Commission Staff 04/2007 published on the European Commission website http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/about/figures/index_en.htm, consulted on 18 April 2007. During the process of administrative reform, the Staff Regulations of EU Of- ficials were completely revised which was an important symbol of the impor- tance of organisational and cultural change (Spence and Stevens 2006: 156). 19 A minority of the DGs or parts of DGs are located in Luxembourg. The Commission also has representations all over the world. 20 European Communities, 2005, Serving the People of Europe: What the European Union Does for You , p. 6. 21 Ibid, p. 14. 17 CHAPTER 2 The new Staff Regulations

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