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The Presidency of the European Commission

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The Presidency of the European Commission S N N ! " #$ %S' (# ) ) !! " #$ % "&'()# '*+ ! !, ! ! -./00N23 45 '6(5 ./7/ 48 9': (46 *"' ; (" <, 5"'=4 ; , ":9!* ( '6'(,4>$ % <44>=(>& ( , ; +*"<44 (+?@'+6(*A$ % ! 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9"./77-(*6"'"> (5#499&>""+4>"69(&#+ *6A# "' (&#+'"9 ++9#-/0(""'> (*"(6-(6(<./= #& (B'(6( #**"'( 69"4"("("' &*A49"(>#A4A4"( 9>4&( 9*"(69:494> 5(6>+ = '*"'(' "6' +'""(A6"56 "'*"'((5"' B(99(69 B"'"' (&#+'"- + 6"" 9"./77= ' A(( &"6(&& *"A45(9#94+6>65(>5*44#>+66 * "65( " (*9 = .0 / 7 G D 3 J F 2 . 07 0G0D 03 0J 0F 02 0. 00 // For Hilda Maria and Anna This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Tables and Figure xiii Preface xv List of Abbreviations xix 1 Introduction 1 The Central Themes 1 The Empirical Problematic: The Paucity of Research on the Commission Presidency 1 The Theoretical Problematic: Counter-factual Assumptions in European Union Studies 2 Methodology and Structure 4 The Central Argument 6 Primary and Secondary Sources 8 PART I THE FRAMES OF REFERENCE 2 An Analytical Framework of Political Leadership 13 Introduction 13 Difficulties in Analysing Political Leadership 13 The ‘Impact’ of Leaders as the Rationale for Study 15 The Structure of Resources and Constraints as the Focus 17 Determinants of Variance of the Leadership Performance 17 Resources and Constraints 18 Institutional Resources and Constraints 19 Opportunities and Circumstantial Constraints 21 Personal Resources and Constraints 23 The Dynamics of Political Leadership 26 Three Aspects of Political Leadership 28 Overriding Merits of the Present Approach 29 Conclusions 30 vii viii Contents PART II THE STRUCTURE OF RESOURCES AND CONSTRAINTS OF THE COMMISSION PRESIDENT 3 The Power Resources of the Commission Presidency 35 Introduction 35 Three Aspects of Leadership Roles of the Commission President 36 Institutional Leadership 36 Mediative Leadership 36 Agenda-setting Leadership 38 The Internal Power Resources of the Commission President 39 The Treaties on the President’s role 39 The President’s Role as Required by the Rules of Procedure 40 The Secretary General 41 The ‘Cabinet’ 44 The Legal Service 48 The Spokesman’s Service 49 The ‘Cellule de Prospective’ 50 Other Portfolios of the President 52 Informally Acquired Portfolios 54 Informal or Ad Hoc Networks 54 The External Power Resources of the Commission President 55 The European Council – The Commission President’s Clientele 55 The Council Presidency 59 The Council Secretariat 61 The Paris–Bonn Axis 62 International Prestige 63 Conclusions 65 4 The Power Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 66 Introduction 66 Some General Constraints 66 The External Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 67 The Appointment Procedure: Governmental Control 67 Contents ix The Parliamentary Role in the Appointment Procedure 70 Lack of Resource of Political Parties 71 Lack of a Solid Societal Basis 73 The Polycentric Nature of the EU System 75 The Court of Justice as a Constraint 75 The Internal Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 76 The Collegiality Principle 76 The Appointment Procedure of the Commissioners 76 The Allocation of Portfolios 77 The Fragmented Administration 79 The Diverse Backgrounds of the Commissioners 79 The Relationship Between the President and the Commissioners 80 Conclusions 82 5 The Personal Factors of the Successive Commission Presidents 84 Introduction 84 Ambitions and the Leadership Environment 84 Ambitions and Personality 85 Abilities and the Leadership Environment 87 Political Judgement 87 The ‘Power to Persuade’ 88 Diplomatic or Mediative Skills 90 Communicative or Oratorical Skills 92 Abilities and the Institutional Setting 93 The European Council 93 The Control of the College 94 The Control of the Commission Apparatus 95 Political Capital 95 Conclusions 98 6 The Situational and Personal Contexts of the Delors Presidency 100 Introduction 100 The Macro-situational Transformation 1985–95 101 Euro-phoria and pessimism 101 x Contents The Profile of the Commission 102 The Elite–Popular Relations 103 The Personal Contexts of the Delors Presidency 104 Assumptions at the Time of Inauguration 104 Ambitions 106 The Working Methods 109 The Delors–Commission Relations 112 Political Capital 121 Conclusions 125 PART III EXAMINING LEADERSHIP CASES OF JACQUES DELORS 7 The Single European Act 129 Introduction 129 Situational Settings 131 The General Climate 131 The Power Situation 132 The Ambiguity in Delors’s Initial Priorities 134 A Change of Objectives and the Issue Linkage 136 A Decisive Opening of Opportunity 137 The Institutional Group as an Internal Ally 139 The Luxembourg Presidency as an External Ally 140 Drafting the SEA: The Exploitation of an Opportunity 142 Mobilisation of the Bonn–Paris Axis 144 Conclusions 147 8 The Delors Committee on Economic and Monetary Union 152 Introduction 152 Situational Settings 153 Delors’s Personal Assets 155 The Contested Authority as a Constraint 155 Delors’s Aspirations and Caution 156 A Window of Opportunity Opened by National Ministerial Leadership 157 An Alliance with Helmut Kohl: An Expansion of Resources and Opportunities 159 Rivalries and Coalitions within the Delors Committee 160 Contents xi Delors’s Mediative Skills in the Committee 162 Mobilisation of an Ad Hoc Group in the Commission 165 Committee’s Significance 166 Conclusions 167 9 The 1991 Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union 170 Introduction 170 An Increasingly Difficult Environment as Constraint 171 The External Environment 171 The Internal Environment 173 Commission As a Dysfunctional Resource 175 Adding Constraints by Tactless Moves 176 Failed Alliance with the Council Presidency and the Council Secretariat 179 A Counter-Attack in Defence of Existing Resources 181 Failed Attempts for a Single Community 184 Conclusions 189 10 The 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment 191 Introduction 191 Situational Settings 192 Choice of a Policy Arena 193 Utilisation of the European Council in Copenhagen 196 Close Collaboration with the Belgian Council Presidency 197 Mobilisation of the Commission’s Internal Resources 198 Successful Bypassing of the Ecofin Council 199 Utilisation of the European Council in Brussels 202 Conclusions 204 11 Conclusion 207 Political Leadership 207 The Structure of Resources and Constraints of the Commission President 208 Institutional Resources and Constraints 209 Personal Resources and Constraints 211 Opportunities and Circumstantial Constraints 212 The Case of the Jacques Delors Presidency 213 xii Contents The Contingent Nature of Commission Presidential Leadership 215 Some Theoretical Implications 217 Appendix: List of Interviews 220 Notes 224 Bibliography 236 Index 246 List of Tables and Figure Tables 2.1 The structure of potential resources and constraints 26 3.1 The allocation of tasks among the ‘Cabinet’ members: An example of the ‘Cabinet’ of President Delors in March 1992 46 3.2 Allocation of tasks in the Cellule de Prospective in 1992 51 3.3 The successive Presidents and their portfolios 53 4.1 The reasons why the successive Commission Presidents left 68 4.2 The changing number of the Commissioners 76 Figure 2.1 The stages of political leadership 27 xiii This page intentionally left blank Preface This book is intended first and foremost as a study of the presidency of the European Commission. Drawing upon cases of attempted leader- ship, notably those of Jacques Delors, the Commission President from 1985 to 1995, it examines the leadership potential of the office-holder. Political leadership is the art of using a limited set of resources and opportunities sparingly. Both to the practitioners and analysts, it is an amorphous phenomenon, and difficult to grasp. It inevitably involves a variety of actors, institutions, and circumstances. Leadership in the European Union can be even more difficult to understand, given the polycentric and constantly changing nature of its institutional struc- ture. Here, the agents involved check each other endlessly, the institu- tional constellation being still in a state of considerable flux. The following analysis points to the highly contingent nature of Commission presidential leadership. The bulk of the book focuses on how the congruence of certain factors would lead to an effective presi- dency. In so doing, the argument emphasises the inherently shared nature of Commission President leadership, or perhaps of any leader- ship in the Union. Although this is essentially an empirical study, the book shall address
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