The Juncker Commission as a Politicising Bricoleur and the Renewed Momentum in Social Europe

Abstract

This article analyses the Juncker Commission's strategy to revitalize the legislative aspects of social Europe. Given the inherent obstacles to forging agreements in the field the Commission was required to operationalize a strategy of being a politicalising bricoleur: a bricoleur in the sense it revisited and revised existing tools with the aim of generating change and building an integration moment in social Europe; politicizing in the sense that the Commission exercised social acuity, built broad teams to mobilize for change, and deployed a distinctive discursive strategy. The analysis finds that the Commission had some success, but continued obstacles resulted in reforms being focused on revisions to relatively non-contentious policies rather than new legislative agreements. The analysis draws attention to the creativity of Commission agency and the constraints within which it operates.