Revisiting the Secretariat General After the Juncker Commission

The controversy that followed Martin Selmayr’s nomination and resignation shows that the post of Secretary General has become a power position that needs to be placed under scrutiny. In considering the varying organizational structures and status given to the Secretariat General as well as the role played by various personalities, the literature has already helped understand how the role of this key body has changed (see, e.g., Kassim 2008, Kassim et al 2013). Based on an approach that combines perspectives from historical comparativism, leadership in IO and the political sociology of authority, this paper focuses on the personalities who head the Secretariat General and, more particularly, on two points when it comes to understand their specific authority. The first is that the authority of the Secretary General is relational, and depends on the global political status of the Commission, and the role attributed to the Secretariat General by the Commission President and his chief of staff. Second, this specific authority relies on a Weberian charisma of service, with the position of the Secretariat General historically constructed as the administrative hand of the President, as leader of the college. Beyond questions of legal procedures, these two aspects have played as important sociopolitical role in the controversy surrounding Martin Selmayr’s nomination. In a context of politicization from 2014, Junker’s powerful chief of staff built a reputation of political power, which became problematic when transferred to a position defined in terms of administrative authority.