Personnel Turnover and the Legitimacy of the European Union

Abstract

How does personnel turnover affect the legitimacy of the EU? This chapter establishes the foundations upon which this question can be addressed. It argues that questions about turnover’s consequences can be examined through a framework focused on three facets of legitimacy (input, output, and throughput). It discusses three sets of propositions—those arising from a populist critique of EU politics, a feminist critique of EU politics, and academic studies of turnover—that link turnover to EU legitimacy. The chapter defines personnel turnover and presents data on turnover across time in the seven treaty-established EU institutions. It concludes by presenting the structure of Personnel Turnover and the Legitimacy of the EU.