In the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

, a cabinet (the French pronunciation, ''cab-ee-nay'', is used) is the personal office of a European Commissioner. The role of a cabinet is to give political guidance to its Commissioner. Members of a cabinet are equivalent, within UK Government nomenclature, to a special adviser or "SPAD". Technical policy preparation is handled by the

European Civil Service The European Civil Service is a generic term applied to all staff serving the institutions and agencies of the European Union (EU). Although recruitment is sometimes done jointly, each institution is responsible for its own internal structures a ...

. The term is not to be confused with the European Commission's top decision making-body known in EU-lexicon, as the "College of Commissioners" (referred to in most political systems as a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Composition

The Commissioner's cabinets are seen as the real concentration of power within the Commission and consist of six members, but the exact membership faces restrictions. Two must be women, no more than three can be of the same nationality as the Commissioner and it must also reflect the Union's regional diversity. However the exact make up does change throughout the Commissioner's term. The head member is known by its French translation: ''

Chef de Cabinet In several French-speaking countries and international organisations, a (French; literally 'head of office') is a senior civil servant or official who acts as an aide or private secretary to a high-ranking government figure, typically a minist ...

''.

Special chefs

''Special chefs'' are a meeting of a member of each cabinet (for a certain area), the

legal service In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

and the secretariat general. They perform last minute preparations to proposed laws before they go before the College of Commissioners, but they are a "political equivalent of a

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...

" with a great degree of

cloak and dagger "Cloak and dagger" was a fighting style common in the Renaissance involving a knife hidden beneath a cloak. The term later came into use as a metaphor, referring to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery. Overview In " Th ...

work. The most "special" of these is the group for inter-institutional relations (formerly Parliamentary affairs) as it provides the Commission with an early warning on what the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

is thinking - before it rejects the Commission's proposals. The most astute civil servants get sent to these meetings. The heads of cabinets meet weekly in the " Hebdo" - the most important meeting of European Civil Servants who direct the work of the Commission and the Commissioners.Eppink, 2007, p.136

References

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General references

External links