A Eurocrat (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsbureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", ...

") is "a staff member of the administrative commission of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

"Eurocrat

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

. Retrieved 27 January 2012. or more broadly, any official of the European Union. The term was coined by

Richard Mayne Sir Richard Mayne KCB (27 November 1796 – 26 December 1868) was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police (1829–1868). With an incumbency of 39 years, he was a ...

, a journalist and personal assistant to the first Commission president,

Walter Hallstein Walter Hallstein (17 November 1901 – 29 March 1982) was a German academic, diplomat and statesman who was the first President of the European Commission, President of the European Commission, Commission of the European Economic Community ...

, in 1961. There are three main types of Eurocrats. Firstly, Political Appointees, such as the

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

s or the

Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

. Secondly, there are fonctionnaires or functionaries, meaning the permanent staff which form the majority of the European institutions. There are two categories of fonctionnaires, Assistants and Administrators. The former perform "secretarial" roles while the latter have more policy-related or managerial responsibilities. The third category is the contractual agents. Contractual agents do not have an employment contract with the same conditions as the fonctionnaires. Their first job contract is limited in duration, and only after several renewals can this contract be extended permanently. Eurocrats generally come from all member states of the European Union. EPSO is the main body which selects staff for recruitment to the European Institutions. Nowadays the term Eurocrat has come to encompass staff from all EU Institutions and not only staff from the European Commission. Although the term Eurocrat might convey negative connotations for some, specialists of European Union and its institutions Didier Georgagakakis and Jay Rowell use the concept of Eurocracy as a way to describe and analyse EU actors and professionals interactions.

References

1961 neologisms Euroscepticism Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom Political terms in the United Kingdom Political neologisms United Kingdom and the European Union Political slurs for people {{UK-poli-stub

See also

References