The European Commission is one of the world's most powerful international administrations. It occupies a central position in the political system of the European Union, and exerts far-reaching political and policy influence in the member states and beyond. Yet much about the officials who work for it, how it operates and the way it has responded to the challenges of administrative reform and enlargement, remains unknown.
This project addresses these concerns. It investigates how the Commission functions as an administration, the extent to which Commission officials are distinctive in terms of their work or background, and how the Commission compares with other bureaucracies, national and international. It assesses the impact of enlargement on the internal functioning and values of the administration, and examine the effects of administrative reform on its operation and management. The project is informed by data drawn from two main sources: an online survey entitled, 'The European Commission of the 21st Century: Views from the Inside', which is one of the largest and most representative surveys of Commission officials ever carried out by independent researchers; and a structured programme of interviews. The dataset thereby created provides primary source material for an original and detailed analysis of the Commission as a twenty-first century administration.
