Political Leadership and the European Commission Presidency

This book provides an authoritative account of the European Commission presidency and the political leadership performance of its incumbents throughout the process of the European integration. It focuses on the leadership of three presidents, Walter Hallstein (1958-67), Jacques Delors (1985-95), and Jose Manuel Barroso (2004-14). The empirical analysis is based on the presidents’ political speeches, expert interviews conducted with current and former officials working in the European institutions, and newspaper articles from the Financial Times. The book explains what makes leadership performance successful in supranational governance, and why agency retains its importance in the institutions of the European Union.