Setting Europe's agenda: the Commission presidents and political leadership

Forging Unity: European Commission Leadership in the Brexit Negotiations

“…Contextually, increased politicization of the EU and consequently reluctance among member states to support greater supranational integration allegedly reinforce the unfavourable institutional developments (Keleman and Tarrant, 2011). Empirical studies also note that with the possible exception of Juncker, Commission Presidents since Delors have lacked the personal capacities to exercise significant leadership (Mueller, 2017;Toemmel, 2013Toemmel, , 2019.…”

Great Expectations, Structural Limitations: Ursula von der Leyen and the Commission's New Equality Agenda

“…The Commission President occupies a prominent place in such studies, due to the Commission's hybrid nature as a technocratic‐administrative body and a political institution. Commission Presidents can exercise strategic leadership by transferring ‘political ambitions of a Pan‐European scope into consensual agendas … [that] can be effectively mediated through the intra‐ and inter‐institutional arenas of decision‐making at a European level … and gain support among European public spheres’ (Müller, 2017, p. 130). Three types of leadership – ‘agenda‐setting’, ‘mediative‐institutional’ and ‘public’ – guide our analysis, which we link to representation issues.…”

“…Commission Presidents often act as policy entrepreneurs, linked to that body's agenda‐setting power; they function as brokers in inter‐institutional negotiations and as top managers within the Commission, given their power to reorganize an ‘administration’ consisting of 33,000+ employees. Supranational agenda‐setting is likely to be more successful when there is an effective outreach strategy, pushing the main agenda items at the beginning of a new term, when public attention is at its highest (Müller, 2017, p. 139). Juncker was the first to label his College a ‘political Commission’ (Kassim and Laffan, 2019); von der Leyen has proclaimed hers a ‘geo‐political Commission’.…”

“…Mindful of women's long march through the institutions in pursuit of equality, her opening tribute to Holocaust survivor Simone Veil revealed her grasp of the significance of symbolic and descriptive representation. ‘Strategically setting Europe's agenda’ constitutes a Commission President's ‘primary political opportunity’ to demonstrate leadership (Müller, 2017, p. 139), but keeping gender equality high on the integration agenda, to foster a ‘Union of equality’, will require even greater active leadership.…”

“…The new President will certainly face significant political-institutional obstacles. Member states inevitably place national interests above supranational politics in times of crisis, but crises also present great opportunities for exercising different kinds of leadership; Commission presidents can operate as 'policy entrepreneurs' by way of their agenda-setting power for the EU at large (Tömmel, 2013(Tömmel, , 2019Müller, 2017Müller, , 2020. What kind of difference could a female President make as a pro-active leader?…”