The EU After the Juncker Commission: Assessing Institutional and Organisational Change

Abstract

The first Commission President to be elected through the Spitzenkandidaten process, Jean-Claude Juncker declared that his would be a ‘political Commission’. With arguably a stronger political mandate than his predecessors, Juncker entered office with a set of defined policy priorities, the support of a ‘grand coalition’ in the European Parliament, and the explicit intention to lead a Commission that would be assertive, independent, and responsive to European citizens. The Juncker Commission would not be a remote technocracy that simply implemented rules irrespective of prevailing conditions on the ground and decisions were to be taken responsibly and visibly by Commissioners in the College rather than invisibly by permanent officials in the lower levels of the services. Turning the page on austerity, the Juncker Commission promised to use the discretion that Eurozone rules allowed to promote recovery.Enacting this vision led to changes in both of the Commission’s role within the EU system and its internal organisation. This purpose of this panel is to assess the inter-institutional and internal impact of these changes, review the conditions that made them possible, and consider the extent to which they are likely to be enduring.

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