Politics and the European Commission: Actors, Interdependence, Legitimacy

The European Commission, with its reputation as a 'bureaucrat's paradise', has come to both fascinate and repulse a wide range of politicians, journalists and social scientists. This book investigates the Commission's relationship to politics, arguing that, in contrast to prevailing opinion, the process of European integration constantly requires political choices and powering from its civil servants. The authors collected here develop a variety of case studies - focusing on issues such as health, development aid, preparations for Eastern enlargement, the resignation of the Santer commission and the Euro - in order to study the relationships, networks and interdependencies which link commissioners and Commission officials to national politicians, civil servants and interest groups. The book also looks in detail at how the Commission publicizes its work, notably through producing public information and liaising with the media, throwing fresh light upon the complex question of the organization'slegitimacy. Politics and the European Commissionprovides a framework for generating new information about, and interpretations of, the power struggles at the heart of the European Union. It will interest all students and researchers of politics and the EU.

Andy Smith is Senior Research Fellow in Political Science at the CERVL, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux.