Introduction

Over the last four decades, the European Commission has come to fascinate a range of politicians, journalists and social scientists. From the point of view of national actors and the media, this fascination stems largely from observations of an apparent contradiction: although its members are unelected, the Commission wields considerable influence within the European Union (EU). Also sparked by this contradiction, the interest expressed by a growing number of academics has given rise to a considerable quantity of research focused essentially upon the following questions: Who works in the Commission? How do they operate? With what resources and under what constraints?