Developing the concept of consequential senior European Union civil servants as sub-political policy entrepreneurs

In a 2022 article the author described the late Sir Julian Priestley, Secretary-General of the European Parliament, 1997–2007, as being a ‘consequential senior European Union civil servant’, notably because of initiatives Priestley championed to provide simultaneous interpretation for all languages in an enlarged European Union – a facility not guaranteed at the time but which provided the Parliament with continued democratic legitimacy. This article builds on and develops that ‘consequential’ concept, by identifying some further examples of such consequential senior EU civil servants and then by teasing out common aspects of their roles and activities. It posits that they are in effect sub-political policy entrepreneurs (in the Kingdon definition) who can and do have significant effects on the development of their institutions and of the Union more generally. It shows how they share certain characteristics: long service in or with ‘their’ institutions, enabling them to develop reformist visions; political coverage; the determination to see their visions through. The fact that they remain sub-political raises potential questions about political legitimacy. The article concludes by questioning whether the phenomenon is specific to the European Union or can also be observed in national civil services and the secretariats of other international organisations.