The General Secretariat of the Council of the EU: Between Long-term Political Transformations and Neo-managerial Reforms

The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) of the EU is a central element of the European institutional landscape. Indeed, the GSC serves as the administrative arm not only of the Council of the Union, but also of the European Council and its permanent president. Despite its importance, it has received surprisingly little academic attention. This chapter delves into the intertwined political and administrative reforms within the Secretariat and explores their impact on the Council’s sphere and their contribution to broader transformations in the European bureaucratic field. It aims at answering the following questions: How do these successive reforms shape the evolution of the Council’s dynamics? And how do these changes align with, and contribute to, the overarching transformations within the broader European bureaucratic field? To do so, we take a long-term view of the General Secretariat, considering both its historical dynamics and the perspectives of its officials. Our research reveals that the institutional transformations of the Council have been accompanied by administrative changes that were initially gradual and relatively autonomous. However, these changes became radical and systemic during the neomanagerial shift that permeated the entire European public service in the 2000s. Drawing on archival work and interviews with Council officials, this study aims to highlight the connections between political and administrative transformations that have characterised the General Secretariat and the European bureaucratic field over the past two decades. By doing so, we hope to shed new light on the dynamics at play within the Council ecosystem.