photo: David Ausserhofer

The research group analyses the internal dynamics of position formation in the European Commission. In the scholarly and public discourse this central institution is most often treated as a unitary actor in legislative decision making. Despite its central role as agenda-setter in the EU policy process, however, rather little is know about its internal functioning. Extant research, for example, cannot explain why the Commission partially proposes contradictory legislation or risks considerable conflicts with member state governments and other political actors.

To close such gaps, we analyze the decision making within the European Commission before it officially feeds a legislative initiative into the EU’s political system. Thereby two questions guide our research:

• What shapes the policy position of a Directorate-General and its Commissioner, for a specific legislative proposal?
•  And consequently, what shapes the power of a Directorate-General and its Commissioner in internal contentions?

On a theoretical level, we contrast two ideal types of actor orientations derived from extant literature, which either conceptualizes the Commission as a technocratic body, focussing mainly on efficient problem solution. Or, the Commission is treated as a political actor using policy formulation as a means to pursue its self-interest. Carrying respective assumptions over to the internal process, we derive specific expectations on the representation of outside interest, the assertiveness of particular internal actors or the relevance of these actor orientations under changing contexts. To define the relevant room of manoeuvre for the internal actors, the project in addition compiles the complete formal structure of the Commission’s internal drafting process.

Empirically our research is based on 54 legislative initiatives in the areas of the internal market and social policy (Miriam Hartlapp), research and innovation (Julia Metz), and consumer policy (Christian Rauh). Our case selection covers directives, regulations and decisions of the last two Commission terms (1999-2009) and provides variation over internal procedures and different leading and involved Directorates-General.

Between May and December 2009 we conducted 129 semi-standardized expert interviews with involved Commission officials from different services and hierarchical levels. This information is complemented by structural data on the internal actors, secondary documentation, and documents produced during the drafting processes.

The research design is based on fully tracing the individual decision-making processes which is then followed by a structured comparison across the 54 cases and three policy areas aiming to identify factors with more general explanatory power. These analyses are complemented by the first extensive database on the Directorates-General and their Commissioners going back to the founding treaties of 1957. In a second step we can thus increase the leverage of our results by adding a longitudinal perspective.

Ultimately, the project aims at generalisable conclusions on position formation within the European Commission which further our understanding of EU decision making and thereby of the integration process and its political consequences considerably.

Since February 2008 the group is supported with a five year grant from the Volkswagen foundation.