The Personalization of Politics in the European Commission

HAMŘÍK, Lukáš. The Personalization of Politics in the European Commission. In 'What for the Next European Century?' UACES Graduate Forum Conference, Manchester. 2019.

Basic information

• Original name: The Personalization of Politics in the European Commission
• Name (in English): The Personalization of Politics in the European Commission
• Authors: HAMŘÍK, Lukáš.
• Edition: 'What for the Next European Century?' UACES Graduate Forum Conference, Manchester, 2019.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: The Personalization of Politics, European Commission, EC President, Functioning of the European Commission
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

The concept of the personalization of politics, referring to the strengthening of the roles and importance of individual actors in politics, has become increasingly popular when studying current political systems. Despite the growing scholarly interest in media and behavioural personalization at the European Union (EU) level, the institutional sphere of politics has remained rather neglected. Bearing this in mind, the aim of this article is to evaluate whether there is a personalization of politics in the EU by focusing on the institutional level of the European Commission (EC). Based on a qualitative content analysis of the primary law of the European Union/European Communities and documents that govern the functioning of the EC, this article finds that in general, it is possible to observe a tendency towards adopting more personalized reforms in the EC. Moreover, personalized reforms clearly led to enhancing the role of the EC President. The second conclusion is in line with our knowledge of the development of the EC President’s position. However, this article supplements previous findings by concluding that in many cases, the enhancement of the President’s position has taken place at the expense of the College as a whole. The findings also indicate that the primary motives behind proposals involving personalized reforms do not lie in aspirations for enhancing the quality of EU-level democracy, but in making the functioning of the Commission more effective.