Access, voice and loyalty : the representation of domestic civil servants in EU committees
By: TRONDAL, Jarle
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Contributor(s): VEGGELAND, Frode.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Jeremy Richardson, February 2003Subject(s): Commission Expert Committees | Institutionalism | Representation | Role Perceptions | SupranationalismJournal of European Public Policy 10, 1, p. 59-77Abstract: This study confronts a classical problem in public administrations: the inherent conflict between political loyalty and professional autonomy built into bureaucratic structures. More recently, the EU integration process has added a new supranational dimension to this old conflict. In this article we ask to what extent national civil servants, when participating on Commission expert committees, consider themselves mainly as national government representatives, as independent expert, or merely as supranational actors. Empirically, we observe that Swedish officials attending Commission expert committeer evoke supranational roles more extensively than Norwegian civil servants. However, supranational roles tend only to supplement pre-stablished national and sectoral roles, not replace them. Hence, both Swedish and Norwegian officials attending EU committees evoke several different role perceptions. The representational status of Norwegian and Swedish officials reflects their affiliation to Commission expert committees and domestic governmental institutions. Contrary to old neo-functional acounts, supranational roles tend to supplement pre-existing allegiances rather than replace them
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Periódico | Biblioteca Graciliano Ramos | Periódico | Not for loan |
This study confronts a classical problem in public administrations: the inherent conflict between political loyalty and professional autonomy built into bureaucratic structures. More recently, the EU integration process has added a new supranational dimension to this old conflict. In this article we ask to what extent national civil servants, when participating on Commission expert committees, consider themselves mainly as national government representatives, as independent expert, or merely as supranational actors. Empirically, we observe that Swedish officials attending Commission expert committeer evoke supranational roles more extensively than Norwegian civil servants. However, supranational roles tend only to supplement pre-stablished national and sectoral roles, not replace them. Hence, both Swedish and Norwegian officials attending EU committees evoke several different role perceptions. The representational status of Norwegian and Swedish officials reflects their affiliation to Commission expert committees and domestic governmental institutions. Contrary to old neo-functional acounts, supranational roles tend to supplement pre-existing allegiances rather than replace them
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