Explaining the Politicisation of the European Commission: How Rebuilding Responsibilities has Normalised Political-Administrative Relationships in the EU Executive

Recent research has noted a trend of increased ‘politicization’ of international politics. European integration is increasingly contested and debated in public. What are the consequences of this politicization for the one of the core EU institutions? The architects of the EU Commission conceived of the institution as a technocratic international body, relatively independent of national and supranational control. This paper argues that politicization influences the hitherto technocratic mode of working in the European Commission. Increased public attention and contestation render the diffuse public a more relevant stakeholder for Europe’s central agenda-setter. A web of accountability arrangements has been woven around the key political and administrative actors at the top of the European Commission. This modernization of the accountability architecture has gradually enhanced and refined the key features of a ‘normal’ executive. A reshaping political and administrative responsibilities has established a stronger and straighter relationship among the executive officials operating at the political and the administrative nexus in the European executive. It has enabled the institution to encounter the demands posed by a changing and dynamic international political environment within which it found itself progressively entrenched.