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This book examines the struggle of the European Union bureaucracy to maintain its autonomy in an increasingly complex institutional setting and adverse political environment. Using an original survey of nearly two hundred top European Commission officials, it shows that the Commission is a coherent organization that shares a common culture of supranationalism. The European Union's multicephalous structure of political authority limits the capacity of European politicians to curb the autonomy of the Commission but tends to undermine the legitimacy of the organization, which finds itself under persistent political attacks. These attacks inadvertently help the organization bolster its defenses against the external threats and trigger internal legitimation processes that reinforce the devotion of its employees to its institutional mission. The rich survey data show how Commission bureaucrats establish themselves as the 'custodians of Europe'. The book helps disentangle the complexity of the Commission and makes a contribution to the study of international bureaucracies, a topic that has received little attention.

While a significant body of scholarly work suggests that we can best understand the policy output of international bureaucracies by focusing on the preferences of their political masters, this article joins those looking 'inside' such bureaucracies to comprehend their behaviour. Using an original data set from nearly 200 interviewees, the article examines the policy preferences of top bureaucrats of the European Commission. It shows that top Commission managers favour deeper European integration regardless of their national background or their organizational experience. The tilt of the Commission bureaucracy toward supranationalism is indicated by a broader consensus within the organization on some of the most controversial initiatives in the EU, such as the constitutional treaty, Turkish accession and the directive for the liberalization of the services sector. This notable consensus suggests that despite occasional policy setbacks and perceived intergovernmental 'trends', the Commission will continue serving its integrative mission.

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