The European People’s Party has created an army of political appointees in and around EU institutions, an investigation by Follow the Money shows. 

EU leaders are expected to sign off on a deal to carve up the most important positions in EU politics: Ursula von der Leyen is on course for a second mandate as European Commission President, Portugal’s former Prime Minister António Costa will likely head the council of EU member countries and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas is set to be in charge of the EU’s foreign policy. 

But beyond these so-called top jobs, there is a vast range of often well-paid and influential positions.

Party affiliation increasingly determines the chances of a successful career in lower-ranking positions in Brussels, the investigation shows: from senior civil service positions to semi-external positions as special representatives, envoys and advisers.

Follow the Money spoke with almost 20 insiders – from EU diplomats, to officials, to lobbyists and independent experts – about political appointments in Brussels, and almost all of them agree: the European People’s Party has been most skilled at getting its party affiliates into the EU’s bureaucratic system.

Shadow play

By placing people from their own ranks in civil service positions, parties expand their network and influence within the civil service machinery in Brussels. 

In one of the most prominent examples, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen came under fire in April for the so-called Piepergate.

Hailing from the same party and country as von der Leyen, the move to appoint German Christian Democrat Markus Pieper as Commission envoy for small and medium-sized enterprises smacked of political favouritism.

 “Make it transparent. Otherwise you have something to hide.” 

His two female rival candidates for the post scored better in tests during the first phase of the selection procedure – he reportedly scored at least 30 per cent less. Still, after job interviews with, among others, von der Leyen's cabinet chief Björn Seibert, the choice fell on party colleague Pieper. 

Under pressure from the Parliament, Pieper decided not to take the job on the eve of the start of his mandate.

Yet, the Commission insists it operates within a strict legal framework when making appointments. 

“The number of permanent posts in the Commission is set up in the establishment plan and is subject to the limitations and controls imposed by the budgetary authority,” a spokesperson said. 

“The principle of non-discrimination, which covers … ‘political or any other opinion’ … is fully respected in all selection procedures,” the spokesperson said, adding that this was also the case for the appointment of Markus Pieper.  

But Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at the HEC Business School in Paris, decried the lack of transparency in the process. 

“Piepergate is very symptomatic for one way of exercising political power under the von der Leyen Commission,” he said. “If you think it is needed, make it transparent. Otherwise you have something to hide.”

Punching above its weight

The dominance of the EPP in distributing jobs in the European bureaucracy can be partly explained by the election results: the EPP has been the largest group in the Parliament for the past quarter of a century. 

“If you really want to become chairman of a particular parliamentary committee, then membership of the EPP helps a lot.” 

This was consolidated in elections last month, where the EPP jumped from 24 to almost 26 per cent of the seats – in contrast to the centre-left S&D with 18.8 per cent and liberal ALDE at 11 per cent.  

But there’s more to it than that. 

By playing a clever game of securing key positions, the party managed to convert its election results into disproportionate influence in more top civil service positions and some key positions in the bureaucratic system, EU officials and employees at the Parliament told FTM.

“What holds the EPP together is a structure, an organisation, where everyone fights for each other,” noted the leader of another European party, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “If you really want to become chairman of a particular parliamentary committee, then membership of the EPP helps a lot.” 

Several people working in and around the institutions defend this system of political appointments off the record, arguing mainly that it reflects voter choice in policy.

“The EPP is just good at the game,” said a parliamentary staff member who knows the party well. “They know the system inside out because they have been part of it for so long.”

The EPP did not respond to requests for comment.

Since the political colour of a candidate is not an official criterion, there are no official statistics on which parties secure most of these jobs. 

But, when looking at who holds top positions, and analysing the composition of two bodies which insiders pointed to as having a large number of political appointments, it becomes clear that the EPP is punching above its electoral weight. 

The EPP heads a number of crucial departments within the EU executive: the European Commission presidency, the General Secretariat, the Legal Service, the budget and personnel policy – overseeing departments that are responsible for appointments and promotions – and fraud and corruption watchdog OLAF.

While other parties play the same game of political appointments, they seem less successful than the EPP. 

For instance, the position of the EU’s top diplomat has been in the hands of the S&D ever since the European External Action Service (EEAS) was created in 2010. This has also trickled down to the civil service level, where Secretary-General Stefano Sannino, a social democrat, has been in charge since 2022. But the EEAS, comparatively, doesn’t hold much power, with member states defining the broad lines of foreign policy. 

In the Commission under von der Leyen, the S&D also held other powerful portfolios, including climate, the economy, and migration – but those aren’t as crucial for the appointment of other staff.

Extending tentacles of power 

The EPP’s power also seeps deep into Brussels’ bureaucratic system. 

One such example is that of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors, which checks the EU budget. 

Thirteen of the 26 current members of the court have or had clear political affiliations, mostly because they held political office before their mandate. Seven of these are linked to the EPP; the liberals are a distant second with three members.

And the ECA is not the only place where the EPP managed to consolidate its power. 

The Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T) consists of big cross-border rail, road and water works to better connect European regions. Nine coordinators oversee the progress of the projects in their regions and have an influence on how billions of euros in subsidies are spent. 

It is in this position that outgoing Romanian MEP Marian-Jean Marinescu was appointed for the Western Balkans region in March by his fellow-EPP compatriot, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean. 

This happened without it being clear on what basis the choice was made and whether there were any other candidates. 

Of the 20 appointments of coordinators since the Ten-T network was created in 2014, Follow the Money found 17 appointees with political affiliation: former MEPs, or ministers for a national political party, for example.

At least half of Ten-T coordinators carry an EPP stamp, even though the party accounted for only about one in five votes in the elections. 

Politicisation of the European Commission

The Commission was long known as a stronghold of bureaucrats that politicians found difficult to get a grip on. This changed in 2014 when Jean-Claude Juncker became Commission president. Upon taking office, Juncker, a centre-right politician from Luxembourg, proclaimed that he wanted a “more political” Commission, to be more responsive to current developments and more accountable to the Parliament. 

Juncker quickly consolidated power by bringing, for example, the spokespeople together in one department and strengthening the role of the secretariat-general.

Juncker's legacy remained largely intact under von der Leyen. They brought the team in charge of overseeing the spending of 750 billion euros from a corona recovery fund under the General Secretariat. Von der Leyen also reportedly plans to place the largest European subsidy pot, the cohesion policy, under her direct authority. 

“With a German president you make [the system] exponentially more hierarchical. Von der Leyen operated solo and that didn't get any better as the mandate progressed,” said Diederik Samsom, the former chief of cabinet of Dutch European Commissioner Frans Timmermans and his successor Wopke Hoekstra, in an interview with Dutch outlet Volkskrant.

The appointment of political confidants at the top of the Brussels civil service trickles down to the other layers. 

A head of a cabinet or a secretary-general can influence a large number of internal and external appointments. In addition, directors-general, the heads of the various administrations of the EU institutions, also play an important role in appointments and promotions. This level, too, often has political leanings.

“The EU administration is punctuated with little islands of discretion allowing top-rank officials to accommodate individuals,” political scientist Alemanno said.

Sophie In 't Veld, who served as a liberal EU lawmaker until this year’s elections, echoed the assessment. 

“It has become one big power machine,” she said of the EPP. “They have always been that, of course, only: nothing stops them now. They have absolute power, and it's exactly what they always say: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”