15 April 2015

Bruegel: Measuring political muscle in European Union institutions

In this blog post we measure the number of top posts held by each nationality in the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament. We specifically count the Heads and Deputy Heads of the Cabinets of the Commissioners, the Director-Generals and Deputy Director-General of the Commission, the heads of the European Parliament Committees, the Director-Generals of the Parliament, the heads of the European Parliamentary Groups, and the Presidency of the European Council. For some groups, it is also possible to compare the change in relative numbers over time.

Top-level officials and parliamentarians represent the general European interest. Nevertheless, those in top positions are part of a tough bargaining structure among member states and are often seen as key people through whom the national political and administrative systems can have recourse. It is obvious that the number of positions is not necessarily equivalent to influence. Some top positions are more influential than others, certain portfolios may matter more for some countries than others, and even lower level position such as director can be more relevant to a specific portfolio etc. The number of top-level officials can also be the result of top people’s differing interests in becoming officials in Brussels and may reflect changing national dispositions towards careers in the EU capital. Still, the changing number of top positions probably gives a first indication of changing national influence. 

In the European Union’s law making institutions today, Germany holds the greatest number of high ranked positions as compared to the other nations. In the European Commission, German nationals account for 16% of Head of Cabinet and Deputy Head of Cabinet positions and 11.6% of Directorate-General and Deputy Director-General positions.  In the Parliament, 18% of Committee Chairs are German, as are 20% of the committee coordinators chosen by the parliamentary groups. Germany’s dominance in terms of the number of top-ranked political positions held in the EU, however, has not always been the norm. In contrast, France, which at the beginning of 2009 was the clear leader in Brussels-based institutions, has severely lost in terms of the number of top positions in Brussels and now holds fewer positions than Spain, a country that is significantly less populous.

Full article (with charts)

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