The European Commission

Of all the organisations that shape our political environment, the European Commission is perhaps the most maligned and least understood. Complex and sometimes confusing, the Commission performs a variety of functions at the European level that often fail to fit familiar categories of administration, international organisation or governance. The European Commission raises important questions about the institution itself and also about the broader politics of the European Union. Michelle Cini draws on up-to-date sources, both academic and journalistic, to explain what the Commission does, how it does it and why. Three perspectives form the basis of this study: the question of leadership in and of the Commission, most notably in the guise of the President and the twenty commissioners; the organisation of the Commission - the structures and processes, both formal and informal, that shape internal dynamics and policies pursued; and the Commission's administrative culture - the myths, values, ideology and basic assumptions that are largely taken for granted by those who work within the institutions.
From these three perspectives, the author draws conclusions about the raison d'etre, the legitimacy and the effectiveness of what is rather narrowly labelled the EU's 'administration'.