ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the structure and the evolution of the ethics management system which applies to the European Commission administrative services. It employs as a conceptual reference point the so-called compliance-integrity continuum, which currently represents the most commonly used analytical device for classifying approaches to ethics management. The focus is on the reform packages initiated by two Commissioners, who covered successively the administrative affairs portfolio: Neil Kinnock (1999-2004) and Siim Kallas (2004-2009). Kallas proposed an agenda of change, namely to move away from a focus on control (inherited from the Kinnock reforms) to a “modern” ethics management style, based on guidance and shared values. After a review of the relevant measures, the second part of the chapter evaluates whether and how the Commission has achieved this proposed change. In this connection, the chapter dwells on the increasingly aggressive external scrutiny to which the Commission has been subject since the early 2000s, and on the political dynamics that have accompanied the introduction and implementation of ethics reforms.
