Wayward commissioners who think for themselves are portrayed as the typical mandarin's worst nightmare. So Mr Eppink's “own” commissioner at the time, the Dutch Frits Bolkestein, was a problem, being outspoken on several issues - whether they belonged to his own internal market dossier or not. A bored commissioner is a dangerous commissioner.
Mr Eppink reports on one time when Bolkestein definitely did not use the LTT. It was a weekend. On Monday the head of cabinet came in looking like someone had died. The problem:
This weekend the commissioner criticised the Dutch prime minister, the French president and the President of the Commission. It's us against the rest of the world.According to Mr Eppink, the head of Mr Bolkestein's cabinet liked to keep his commissioner's agenda full as “a commissioner with nothing to do might have time to start thinking for himself.” A former journalist, Mr Eppink has a sharp eye for the minefield of petty officialdom. He sketches life inside the commission as a constant struggle between the cabinet - essentially there to politically guide the commissioner - and the directorate general who is supposed to draw up legislative proposals.
Both sides want to be a little more involved in the other's territory but are not prepared to give an inch. A much-favoured trick by directorate generals fearing commissioners will be become too involved in a proposal and perhaps unravel their work is to prepare dossiers so complicated, detailed and long that commissioners have little choice but to sign them off - often not knowing what's in them. In one incident, Romano Prodi is left sitting waiting in an adjoining room while his chef de cabinet put the finishing touches on an important decision.
The greatest power of the European mandarins, suggests Mr Eppink, is to turn controversial issues into so-called “A points” for the commissioners' weekly meeting. This means pre-cooking proposals and thrashing them out before presenting an agreed outline to their political masters, to be passed without discussion. This is how the services directive proposal - a piece of EU legislation that turned into a monster of controversy once it was examined and discussed thoroughly - was initially just nodded through by commissioners. While all directorate generals vie to get their particular unit's philosophy through, it is the head of legal service (as far as memory goes back always a Frenchman) who can kill a proposal dead on a legal nicety and the president's head of cabinet who is thought to wield the most power in the commission - or “Princess” as Mr Eppink insists on calling the EU executive.
But he also draws attention to the sheer power of unelected eurocrats, who can and do make use of several short cuts to get legislation through - effectively carrying out policy through bureaucratic channels.
A mandarin might use a written procedure to introduce VAT into a previously exempt sector. If nobody objects, the proposal becomes draft law. (…) The best tactic is to introduce a series of written procedures before the summer when nobody is around to block them.While a mandarin fears the press as an unpredictable tool, it can also be mighty useful for killing off proposals or as a forum for early leaks to get a favourable preview of a proposal in a newspaper. The Financial Times is the favoured paper for the latter. Otherwise it depends on the proposal. For example, a DG environment proposal on pollution caused by buses would die a death in the French papers if headlined that the commission wants to privatise the public bus service, or in the British papers if headlined that the commission wants to abolish all double-decker buses.
Into this mix of backstabbing and power comes the additional spice of all the different nationalities. Italians are summed up as “shrewd, devious negotiators”, the Dutch and the Germans rely too much on arguments and think that is enough; the French use logic, often coinciding with French national interests, while Spanish and Poles are the most difficult negotiators, being proud and prickly. Belgians are dismissed as ideal mandarins with “legendary adaptability”, and a “lack of backbone.”
Introducing the book, he suggests that his time at the commission means he mastered the “intrigue, trickery and deceit” needed to survive as an official in the commission. Yet Mr Eppink is not dismissive of his former colleagues' ability. He also does not suggest that they are a malign force deliberately out to drown EU citizens through their laws. But he does say they are out of touch with reality. They push ahead, pruning and working on the EU ideal, but have failed to consider the unpredictable electorate.
My problem with European Federalists is not their faith, or their aspirations, or even their ideals: it is their lack of political insight (…) I believe the European Constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters on 2005, is a good example of EU officials' lack of foresight and understanding.The book is set to be widely read in Brussels which thrives on political gossip and intrigue inspired by the EU - but it is also likely to be open to the charge that the same sort of in-fighting and pettiness exists in national administrations, which are considerably bigger. Mr Eppink himself points out that Amsterdam city's administration alone has the same number of officials as the “Princess”. Nevertheless, it is good to see the commission, which Mr Eppink describes as being fiercely intolerant of “dissidents” or people on the inside being critical, being sent up somewhat. A little humour where previously there was none can only be a good thing. And perhaps bring it closer to the fabled “EU citizen”?
Deze boekbespreking van Honor Mahoney verscheen ook in Business Week, en bij de EU Observer, Free-Europe en de Bruges Group.
Meer teksten van deze auteur op www.businessweek.com.
3 Reacties:
- At 11:56 Anoniem said...
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Ik ga het boek zeker lezen, maar dan wel het Nederlands origineel "Europese Mandarijnen". Ik vraag me echt af wie in de EU-instellingen de bewakers bewaakt. Ik ben benieuwd door welke ambtenaren dit ambtenarenlegioen eindelijk eens ontmanteld gaat worden. Mensen als Eppink zijn echter veel té dun gezaaid om een écht verschil te kunnen maken.
En de EU viert dit jaar zijn 50ste verjaardag. Hiep hiep hoera! Net alsof we zelf in België al niet genoeg ambtenaren hebben... - At 12:47 Anoniem said...
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Ik vind vooral de lijst van jan en alleman waarmee dat ene D66-vrouwmens-Europarlementariër allemaal geslapen heeft om toch maar aanvaard te worden binnen de "mandarijnen" schitterend. Dat mens deed alles om de benoeming van Bolkestein als Eurocommissaris tegen te werken, inclusief hoererij en sletterig (wan)gedrag. Een bende hoeren en boeren, dat is Europa!
- At 14:07 Anoniem said...
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Dat er binnen de Europese Unie dringend nood is aan een dooiperiode, bewijst de enquête die het VBO onlangs in de zakenkranten De Tijd en L'Echo liet publiceren. De liefde van Belgische kmo-kaderleden voor Europa is onderkoeld. Het klinkt bijna surrealistisch. De maatregelen die het bedrijfsleven pal in het hart raken, vormen een systematische blinde vlek op het netvlies van tal van ondernemers. Alsof de 27 commissarissen, 785 parlementsleden en meer dan 22.600 ambtenaren, die in de buurt van het Brusselse Schumanplein werken en toeven, met iets compleet efemeers bezig waren. Iets dat losjes over de hoofden van de Europese burger heen ging.
Eppink noemt het Europa dat hij diende liefkozend dan weer de 'Prinses', een unieke figuur in de geschiedenis, omdat zij een rijk beheert zonder leger en met de wet als enige wapen. En wat voor een wapen. Meer dan 90.000 pagina's acquis communautaire , vertaald in meer dan 23 officiële talen. Wetsregels die alles regelen: van vrij verkeer van goederen tot voedselveiligheid, van chemische producten tot de euro, van reizen tot ondernemen, van etiketten op flessen tot buitenlandse politiek, van btw tot medicijnen. Het werk van de Europese mandarijnen, zoals hij de ambtenaren in Brussel noemt, is voelbaar en zichtbaar tot in alle uithoeken van Europa. Alleen, bitter weinig Europese burgers hebben er kennis van.
En laat nu net dat dé kern van het Europrobleem zijn. De burgers weten er niets van, en de EU doet geen moeite om hen in te lichten. Dit werkt euroscepticisme in de hand, terwijl een "positieve" approach de bureaucratie waarschijnlijk veel effectiever zou kunnen bestrijden. Eppink is tegen de EU, net als Vincent De Roeck, en dat domineert hun teksten. Hun diagnose is juist, maar hun oplossingen zijn dat veel minder.