EU Commissioners and Cabinets: (Supra)national Agents?

2014-2015 9 EU Commissioners
Behind the scenes at the hearings of the candidate commissioners, European Parliament, CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

The Europa Research Group is pleased to invite you to our upcoming event:

EU Commissioners and Cabinets: (Supra)national Agents?

Tuesday 17 March 2015
6pm – 7pm

Appleton Tower · Seminar Room 2.06
Crichton Street · Edinburgh EH8 9LE

Renke Deckarm
PhD Candidate in Politics
University of Oldenburg


European Commissioners are tasked with working in the common European interest. However, since they are selected by their national governments, they can face pressure to act in ways which benefit their own countries. Are Commissioners agents of Member State governments or committed Europeans? While this question has long been pondered and evidence collected through case studies, little quantitative comparison of Commissioners’ orientations has been carried out to date.

Join us for a presentation of research aiming to address this shortcoming and a discussion with Renke Deckarm, a visiting PhD researcher from the University of Oldenburg. Renke has analysed the composition of Commissioners’ private offices (cabinets), under the premise that personnel choices hint at their national or supranational tendencies. Are cabinets made up of Commission experts or citizens from Commissioners’ own countries and from the same political families? Having collected data on more than 1100 members of cabinets, he will offer some initial conclusions on Commissioners’ orientations and shed light on the nature of the powerful officials behind them.


Anthony Salamone | Chair
Europa Research Group Co-Convenor
PhD Candidate in Politics
University of Edinburgh

Renke Deckarm is a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the University of Edinburgh. He is PhD Candidate in Politics at the University of Oldenburg and his research focuses on the decision making of European Commissioners and their staff.

Free and open to all


PARTICIPANTS

Renke Deckarm
The University of Oldenburg

Renke Deckarm is PhD Candidate in Politics at the University of Oldenburg. His research interests include the organisational design of European institutions, EU politics more generally and quantitative research methods.


Anthony SalamoneAnthony SalamoneEdinburgh Europa Institute Logo (@AMSalamone)
The University of Edinburgh

Anthony Salamone is Co-Convenor of the Edinburgh Europa Research Group and PhD Candidate in Politics at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the politics of the UK’s EU relations.


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