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This article reviews the by now extensive literature on the Europeanisation of the political systems of the EU-15, with an emphasis on parliaments and executives (i.e., governments and ministerial administrations). The Living Review highlights apparently contradictory effects of integration: de-parlamentarisation vs. re-parlamentarisation; bureaucratisation vs. politicisation; and centralisation vs. diffusion. These diverging assessments of the effects of integration do, in part, reflect diversity in the EU-15; in part, they are, however, also a result of differences in the specification of variables, research designs and theoretical approaches. Work that inquires into patterns of Europeanisation -across institutional domains, countries, regions and time -and which seeks to tackle the 'methodological nationalism' of the Europeanisation literature promises a clearer picture of the institutional consequences of European integration than we possess at present.This review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Austria License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/at/

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Political craft is an essential qualification of senior officials in the German Federal ministerial administration. The emphasis on political craft as a vital complement to administrative‐technical competence reflects a policy‐making system that is characterized by multi‐party government, an assertive Parliament, a strong opposition, influential Lander, and growing informalization. In fostering political craft, three institutions play a key role: (i) the Chancellery; (ii) the political support units to the executive leadership; and (iii) the parliamentary parties in the Bundestag, which employ Federal ministerial officials on temporary leave. The centrality of these institutions in Federal policy‐making makes them into outstanding training grounds for future top officials.