The presidency of the European Commission under Jacques Delors : the politics of shared leadership / Ken Endo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Endō, Ken, 1966-

Series:

St. Antony's series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European Commission.

Delors, Jacques.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xx, 260 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Macmillan Press ; New York : St. Martin's Press in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1999.

Summary:

This work is the first systematic study of the presidency of the European Commission. Drawing upon cases of attempted leadership by Jacques Delors, the Commission President from 1985-95, it examines the leadership capacity of the office-holder. This points to the inherently shared and contingent nature of the Commission President's leadership in the Union where leadership sources are widely dispersed. While this is essentially an empirical study, Ken Endo addresses some of the theoretical implications of the resulting issues.

Contents:

The Empirical Problematic: The Paucity of Research on the Commission Presidency 1

The Theoretical Problematic: Counter-factual Assumptions in European Union Studies 2

2 An Analytical Framework of Political Leadership 13

Difficulties in Analysing Political Leadership 13

The 'Impact' of Leaders as the Rationale for Study 15

The Structure of Resources and Constraints as the Focus 17

Determinants of Variance of the Leadership Performance 17

Institutional Resources and Constraints 19

The Dynamics of Political Leadership 26

Three Aspects of Political Leadership 28

Part II The Structure of Resources and Constraints of the Commission President

3 The Power Resources of the Commission Presidency 35

Three Aspects of Leadership Roles of the Commission President 36

Institutional Leadership 36

Mediative Leadership 36

Agenda-setting Leadership 38

The Internal Power Resources of the Commission President 39

The Treaties on the President's role 39

The President's Role as Required by the Rules of Procedure 40

The Secretary General 41

The 'Cabinet' 44

The Legal Service 48

The Spokesman's Service 49

The 'Cellule de Prospective' 50

Other Portfolios of the President 52

Informally Acquired Portfolios 54

Informal or Ad Hoc Networks 54

The External Power Resources of the Commission President 55

The European Council - The Commission President's Clientele 55

The Council Presidency 59

The Council Secretariat 61

The Paris-Bonn Axis 62

International Prestige 63

4 The Power Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 66

Some General Constraints 66

The External Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 67

The Appointment Procedure: Governmental Control 67

The Parliamentary Role in the Appointment Procedure 70

Lack of Resource of Political Parties 71

Lack of a Solid Societal Basis 73

The Polycentric Nature of the EU System 75

The Court of Justice as a Constraint 75

The Internal Constraints upon the Commission Presidency 76

The Collegiality Principle 76

The Appointment Procedure of the Commissioners 76

The Allocation of Portfolios 77

The Fragmented Administration 79

The Diverse Backgrounds of the Commissioners 79

The Relationship Between the President and the Commissioners 80

5 The Personal Factors of the Successive Commission Presidents 84

Ambitions and the Leadership Environment 84

Ambitions and Personality 85

Abilities and the Leadership Environment 87

Political Judgement 87

The 'Power to Persuade' 88

Diplomatic or Mediative Skills 90

Communicative or Oratorical Skills 92

Abilities and the Institutional Setting 93

The European Council 93

The Control of the College 94

The Control of the Commission Apparatus 95

Political Capital 95

6 The Situational and Personal Contexts of the Delors Presidency 100

The Macro-situational Transformation 1985-95 101

Euro-phoria and pessimism 101

The Profile of the Commission 102

The Elite-Popular Relations 103

The Personal Contexts of the Delors Presidency 104

Assumptions at the Time of Inauguration 104

Ambitions 106

The Working Methods 109

The Delors-Commission Relations 112

Political Capital 121

Part III Examining Leadership Cases of Jacques Delors

7 The Single European Act 129

Situational Settings 131

The General Climate 131

The Power Situation 132

The Ambiguity in Delors's Initial Priorities 134

A Change of Objectives and the Issue Linkage 136

A Decisive Opening of Opportunity 137

The Institutional Group as an Internal Ally 139

The Luxembourg Presidency as an External Ally 140

Drafting the SEA: The Exploitation of an Opportunity 142

Mobilisation of the Bonn-Paris Axis 144

8 The Delors Committee on Economic and Monetary Union 152

Situational Settings 153

Delors's Personal Assets 155

The Contested Authority as a Constraint 155

Delors's Aspirations and Caution 156

A Window of Opportunity Opened by National Ministerial Leadership 157

An Alliance with Helmut Kohl: An Expansion of Resources and Opportunities 159

Rivalries and Coalitions within the Delors Committee 160

Delors's Mediative Skills in the Committee 162

Mobilisation of an Ad Hoc Group in the Commission 165

Committee's Significance 166

9 The 1991 Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union 170

An Increasingly Difficult Environment as Constraint 171

The External Environment 171

The Internal Environment 173

Commission As a Dysfunctional Resource 175

Adding Constraints by Tactless Moves 176

Failed Alliance with the Council Presidency and the Council Secretariat 179

A Counter-Attack in Defence of Existing Resources 181

Failed Attempts for a Single Community 184

10 The 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment 191

Situational Settings 192

Choice of a Policy Arena 193

Utilisation of the European Council in Copenhagen 196

Close Collaboration with the Belgian Council Presidency 197

Mobilisation of the Commission's Internal Resources 198

Successful Bypassing of the Ecofin Council 199

Utilisation of the European Council in Brussels 202

Political Leadership 207

The Structure of Resources and Constraints of the Commission President 208

Institutional Resources and Constraints 209

Personal Resources and Constraints 211

Opportunities and Circumstantial Constraints 212

The Case of the Jacques Delors Presidency 213

The Contingent Nature of Commission Presidential Leadership 215

Some Theoretical Implications 217.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 236-245) and index.

ISBN:

0333721012

0312215975

OCLC:

41264758