Suchergebnisse

Major recent studies of the European Commission have emphasised the growing politicisation and centralisation as important trends transforming its organisation. The present article analyses the role that time rules and temporal practices that structure the operation of the Commission have played in these trends. It finds a clear temporal subtext to politicisation and centralisation. This becomes evident when one examines two key time-sensitive relationships: between the political level – the College of Commissioners – and the administrative level; and between central coordination units – notably the Secretariat-General – and line units. Political time-setting, monitoring and enforcement have assumed greater prominence, reducing the temporal discretion of the administration; central 'keepers of the clock' have acquired greater power; and traditional bureaucratic advantages in time budgets and time horizons have diminished.

An authoritative account of the European Commission presidency and the political leadership performance of its incumbents throughout the process of the European integration.

THIS ARTICLE FOCUSES ON THE LEADERSHIP CAPACITY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION. TWO BROAD CATEGORIES OF FACTORS ARE SEEN AS SHAPING THIS LEADERSHIP CAPACITY: THE RESOURCES OF THE COMMISSION AND THE OPERATING CONTEXTS OF THE COMMISSION. THE BULK OF THE ARTICLE CONSISTS OF AN EXAMINATION OF THESE CATEGORIES AND OF THE LINKAGES AND INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THEM. A CENTRAL THEME IS THAT THERE HAS BEEN, OVER TIME, A GENERAL INCREASE IN THE COMMISSION'S LEADERSHIP CAPACITY.