One EU civil service or many? The European Commission and the council secretariat

Abstract

In scholarship on bureaucratic socialisation, length of service is frequently identified as the key variable in explaining alignment of the beliefs and values of staff members with those of the administration. This article challenges this view. Presenting analysis based on data from the European Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council–two parts of the EU administration, which draw staff from the same talent pool and are governed by the same staff regulation–and using organisational values to measure socialisation, it finds that length of service is not the only or the most important variable in explaining alignment of staff views with the organisation. It also shows not only that both staff beliefs and organisational values differ between the two bodies, but that as socialising environments the Commission and the Council Secretariat have differing impacts on their staff.