Is the European Commission a ‘Hothouse’ for Supranationalism? Exploring Actor-Level Supranationalism

Abstract: The article explores actor-level supranationalism among seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission. The transformative clout of the European Commission is assessed by the extent to which SNEs adopt a supranational role perception. The survey and interview data presented demonstrates that SNEs evoke multiple roles, notably departmental, epistemic and supranational roles. OLS regression analyses reveal that actor-level supranationalism among SNEs reflect (i) processes of re-socialization inside the Commission, (ii) the organizational composition of the Commission and (iii) organizational incompatibilities between the Commission and domestic government institutions.