The European political capital of Portuguese.
Date: 2015-01-09
Institutions: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
Subjects: EU office or agency, EU policy - national policy, European Commission, European Parliament, European political cooperation, Portugal, decision (EU), operation of the Institutions, powers of the institutions (EU)

THE EUROPEAN 
POLITICAL 
CAPITAL OF 
PORTUGUESE

EUDO 
REPORT
2014/07

by RICHARD ROSE & ALEXANDER TRECHSEL

This study has been published by the European University Institute, Robert Schuman 
Centre for Advanced Studies, European Union Democracy Observatory – EUDO. It has 
been commissioned and funded by the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.

initially  published  by  the  Fundação  Francisco  Manuel  dos 
in  Portuguese  and  presented  at  the  Conference  Portugal  participa-
the  EU  decision  making:  https://www.ffms.pt/en/conference-after/763/

This  study  was 
Santos 
tion 
portugal-participation-in-the-eu-decision-making 

in 

© Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, European University Institute, Richard Rose 
and Alexander H. Trechsel 2014

The European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO, www.eudo.eu ) is an independent 
and inter disciplinary organisation fully-integrated within the Robert Schuman Centre 
for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) at the European University Institute. Its declared goals 
are: to translate scientific and acade mic research on the key issues of European democ-
racy into policy relevant and publicly-understandable outputs, to produce a permanent 
and periodic evaluation of democratic practices within the EU and to develop practical 
suggestions for improving democratic performance in the EU. EUDO wants to serve as 
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and to foster dialogue between policy-makers, academics and EU citizens. 

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the 
authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Fundação Francisco 
Manuel dos Santos or the European University Institute.

A study prepared in the framework of the European Union Democracy 
Observatory for the Fundacao Francisco Manuel dos Santos

THE EUROPEAN 
POLITICAL 
CAPITAL OF 
PORTUGUESE

Professor RICHARD ROSE & 
Professor ALEXANDER TRECHSEL
Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute

‘ What know they of Portugal who only Portugal know
’

- with apologies to Rudyard Kipling writing on England -

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

3

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................... 7

INTRODUCTION........................................ 11

PORTUGUESE AS SUPRA-NATIONAL CIVIL SERVANTS......... 13

PORTUGUESE CIVIL SERVANTS IN BRUSSELS............... 34

PORTUGUESE WORKING IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT....... 44

INCREASING PORTUGAL’S EUROPEAN POLITICAL CAPITAL.... 54

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

5

6

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To participate in the multi-level system of government in which Portugal 
is  now  embedded  (Teixeira  and  Pinto,  2012)  requires  European  political 
capital  as  well  as  national  political  capital.  European  political  capital  is 
the  knowledge  required  to  deal  effectively  with  the  complex  institutions 
that make the decisions of European Union. It consists of a mixture of the 
political skills, knowledge and experience that individuals can acquire by 
working in Brussels. For Portuguese it requires working with foreigners in 
a foreign language. It is an asset that qualifies people to be part of the EU 
decision making game. European political capital does not guarantee influ-
ence, but without it people will be on the sidelines rather than players in the 
Brussels policy community. To ensure that decisions that Portuguese agree 
to  in  Brussels  will  be  accepted  by  the  Portuguese  government  requires 
national as well as European political capital. 

While  all  politics  is  about  expressing  different  points  of  view  and  nego-
tiating  to  arrive  at  mutually  agreed  decisions,  EU  politics  is  different  in 
that bargaining takes place among multi-national groups. Three Brussels 
institutions  are  critical  in  giving  Portuguese  the  opportunity  to  acquire 
and  make  use  of  European  political  capital:  the  European  Commission, 
the  Brussels  office  of  the  Permanent  Representative  (PERMREP)  of  the 
Portuguese state; and the European Parliament. The first of these institu-
tions  has  a  de-nationalizing  effect,  since  Commission  staff  are  meant  to 
give their first loyalty to the goals and priority of the European Union itself. 
The PERMREP’s Office and the European Parliament have a multi-nation-
alizing effect, since agreements made with the participation of Portuguese 
must  also  have  the  approval  of  representatives  of  more  than  a  score  of 
member states. 

As  EU  citizens,  Portuguese  are  eligible  to  become  supra-national  civil 
servants in the European Commission. Its staff is often described as faceless 
bureaucrats; while they are usually anonymous they are not bureaucrats. 
Commission officials are active participants in the policy process with the 
exclusive right to initiate the legislative proposals and directives that go to 
the European Parliament and the Council for approval. They also monitor 
how member states implement decisions taken at the EU level. 

To  be  competitive  in  seeking  a  Commission  post  requires  good  general 
intelligence; knowledge of English and French, the working languages of 
the Commission; and the ability to work as part of a very multi-national 
team. The Europe-wide competition for posts is brutal: less than 1 percent 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

7

of applicants are offered a job. In a meritocratic recruitment process that 
assesses applicants without regard to nationality, 24 Portuguese succeeded 
in  getting  a  post  in  the  latest  recruitment  round.  They  were  10  percent 
of  all  successful  applicants.  Portuguese  are  relatively  well  represented  in 
Commission posts dealing with policy, holding 3.0 percent of posts, almost 
one-third more than Portugals share of the EUs population. Because of the 
influx of Portuguese recruits in the 1980s after the country joined the EU, 
a disproportionate number of Portuguese are now in very high-level posts 
within the Commission. 

The Commission’s work has a de-nationalizing effect. Whatever the specif-
ics of a post, the people with whom a Portuguese works on a daily basis 
are  from  more  than  half  a  dozen  nationalities.  Deliberations  will  not  be 
conducted in Portuguese but a foreign language. Within the EU’s hierar-
chical  structure,  the  dossiers  on  which  a  Portuguese  works  are  reviewed 
by multi-national superiors and committees and require endorsement by 
Councils  consisting  of  representatives  of  national  governments  and  of 
multi-national Party Groups in the European Parliament.

Portuguese diplomats and domestic civil servants represent the Portuguese 
government in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). 
It  is  responsible  for  evaluating  the  many  technical  proposals  that  come 
from the Commission for approval and for identifying those contentious 
issues that can only be settled by the Council of Ministers. Since COREPER 
represents states, each country has a right to participate in all its delibera-
tions without regard to its population.

Portugal’s  PERMREP  office  has  about  60  professional  staff,  a  mixture  of 
mid-career  diplomats  and  domestic  civil  servants  seconded  from  Lisbon 
ministries.  The  latter  are  required  because  they  have  specific  technical 
knowledge necessary to evaluate the substantive effect of many narrowly 
focussed  EU  proposals.  In  addition,  there  are  continuing  consultations 
between  the  Brussels  Office  and  Lisbon  ministries  about  features  in 
Commission  proposals  of  particular  interest  to  Portugal  and  about  how 
these can be combined with interests of other governments whose support 
will be needed to form a coalition to advance these interests. The unitary 
nature of the Portuguese state makes this process easier than in a federal 
country such as Germany, where domestic territorial interests are impor-
tant,  and  than  in  countries  with  coalition  governments  in  which  many 
parties  require  consultation  or  the  government  itself  is  divided  about 
Europe, as is the case in the United Kingdom.

8

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

More than 700 Portuguese participate as members of multi-national Expert 
Groups  that  consider  Commission  proposals  in  terms  of  their  adminis-
trative feasibility in national contexts. Five-sixths are civil servants from 
Lisbon  ministries;  the  remainder  represent  stakeholder  interests  of  civil 
society institutions or have individual professional expertise. There is little 
numerical  difference  between  the  number  participating  from  countries 
the size of Portugal and countries such as Germany or Italy. As the name 
suggests,  participants  need  national  political  capital  in  order  to  evaluate 
how to apply broadly phrased EU directives in a Portuguese context. But 
they also need European political capital in order to secure modifications 
in  proposed  directives  so  that  they  can  be  better  suited  to  Portuguese 
circumstances. 

Portuguese  civil  servants  can  become  temporary  staff  members  of  the 
European  Commission  by  qualifying  for  posts  as  Seconded  National 
Experts. During their short-term appointments of six months to four years, 
Portuguese  officials  must  put  European  considerations  first.  On  return-
ing  to  their  Lisbon  ministry,  they  can  use  the  political  capital  gained  in 
Brussels to advance Portuguese policies.

By contrast with the Commission, the European Parliament gives priority 
to partisan values and interests. MEPs must deal with issues in the light of 
trans-national values, for example, social democracy or the environment, 
rather  than  national  priorities.  Since  nationally  elected  MEPs  are  organ-
ised in multi-national Party Groups, everyone working in the EP requires 
European  political  capital  with  a  capital  P.  The  751  MEPs  are  the  most 
visible part of the Parliament, but they are the fewest in number. Slightly 
more numerous are the assistants that each MEP employs with parliamen-
tary funding. On average Portuguese MEPs have three staff assistants, with 
some working in the Brussels office of their MEP and others are based in a 
city in Portugal relevant to the MEP’s political base. The largest proportion 
of EP employees are career civil servants who support the collective work 
of the Parliament and its many committees.

Collectively, the number of Portuguese working for the parliament in one 
or another capacity is 16 times greater than Portugal’s 22 MEPs. Portuguese 
are  4.2  percent  of  this  permanent  staff,  almost  double  their  share  of  the 
EU’s population; they are also over-represented among new recruits. Over 
a decade the number who have acquired European political capital in the 
Parliament  is  greater  than  those  gaining  experience  in  the  Commission, 
because  of  the  high  turnover  of  MEPs  and  their  assistants  by  the  end  of 
each five-year electoral cycle.

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

9

Recommendations. To make the most of participation in the multi-national 
institutions of the European Union, Portugal needs to increase the pool of 
citizens  having  European  political  capital,  since  a  series  of  enlargements 
begun  in  2004  means  that  the  EU  now  has  28  member  states  compared 
with 12 when Portugal joined in 1986. Actions that the Portuguese govern-
ment can take to increase this stock are set out at the end of the following 
chapters. They include: 

*  The Portuguese Ministry of Education should increase the percentage 
of  pupils  gaining  effective  use  of  two  major  European  languages,  e.g. 
English, French, and German. 

*  The Portuguese government should offer grants to encourage temporary 
posting  abroad  of  able  individuals  working  in  the  public,  private  and 
civil society sectors to gain experience of working on common problems 
in a multi-national context.

*  In  recruiting  domestic  civil  servants,  more  weight  should  be  given  to 
knowledge  of  EU  working  languages  and  experience  of  studying  or 
working abroad. 

*  Able domestic civil servants in post should be given experience of multi-
national settings by temporary assignment to Portuguese embassies and 
organisations abroad.

Portugal has the human resources to contribute to the cadres of Europeans 
with the skills and knowledge to participate in trans-national policymak-
ing. However, in a European Union of 500 million people Portuguese will 
always be a small portion of those holding posts in Brussels. That requires 
an active policy to promote an increase in the European political capital of 
Portuguese. 

10

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

INTRODUCTION

Of  all  the  international  institutions  to  which  Portugal  belongs,  the 
European  Union  is  unique  in  its  powers  and  in  the  direct  impact  that  it 
has on the politics and economy of Portugal (cf. Hooghe and Marks, 2001; 
Piattoni, 2010). Since Portuguese constitute only 2 percent of the EU’s citi-
zens,  Portuguese  voices  are  a  small  part  of  a  multi-national  choir  found 
in  EU  committees  of  member  states,  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
European Commission. 

In order to represent Portugal to best effect in Brussels, Portugal needs a 
pool of people with European political capital, that is, the skills, knowledge 
and experience necessary to understand the complex procedures by which 
decisions are arrived at in EU institutions that also include representatives 
of  27  national  governments  and  supra-national  EU  officials.  In  order  for 
Portuguese institutions to accept multi-national decisions, its representa-
tives in Brussels must also have national political capital. This is needed to 
convince colleagues in Lisbon that whatever EU decision is arrived at is the 
best that Portuguese could obtain in circumstances in which it was but one 
voice among more than two dozen.

Because  Portuguese  citizens  are  automatically  EU  citizens  too,  they 
are  eligible  to  become  a  supra-national  civil  servant  in  the  European 
Commission or one of many smaller EU agencies. EU officials are expected 
to put their European citizenship first and act as guardians of the powers 
granted  by  treaties  of  the  European  Union  and  to  promote  the  policies 
of the particular agency to which they belong. It is the responsibility of a 
combination  of  Portuguese  diplomats  and  domestic  civil  servants  in  the 
Permanent Representative (PERMREP) Office in Brussels to represent the 
Portuguese government on a day to day basis in the multiple deliberations 
of  the  EU.  Cabinet  ministers  attend  multi-national  meetings  of  the  EU’s 
Council in order to deal with differences of opinion that are politically too 
hot to be resolved by negotiations between civil servants. 

To be effective, Portuguese ministers need enough European political capi-
tal to adapt what they say in Lisbon to the requirements of a multi-national 
decisionmaking  body.  Portugal’s  Members  of  the  European  Parliament 
(MEP)  require  national  political  capital  to  be  elected  to  the  European 
Parliament and European political capital in order to participate effectively 
in  the  activities  of  a  multi-national  Parliament  (cf.  Corbett  et  al.,  2010; 
Trechsel et al., 2013). In the former role they are accountable to a section 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

11

of  the  Portuguese  electorate.  By  contrast,  each  MEP  belongs  to  a  Party 
Group that has members elected from as many as 28 member states. Whereas 
Portuguese voters want their MEPs to represent their national interests in the 
EP, Party Groups expect their MEPs to vote in accord with decisions taken by 
multi-national caucuses in which Portuguese members are few. When votes 
are taken in the European Parliament, Group views normally prevail over 
national views (see e.g. Hix and Hoyland, 2011; Rose and Borz, 2013).

The pool of Portuguese with European political capital consists of a float-
ing population of fish , that is, people for whom working in Brussels is but 
one stage in a lengthy career. To enter the pool they must have sufficient 
motivation and skills to gain employment there. Only the supra-national 
civil  servants  in  the  Commission  have  a  permanent  job  in  Brussels.  A 
person who switches from being a national Cabinet minister to being an 
EU Commissioner is appointed to serve for only five years. National offi-
cials spend no more than six years as members of the PERMREP’s staff in 
Brussels before returning to a national ministry in Lisbon or, if a diplomat, 
being  assigned  to  a  post  in  another  country  or  continent.  About  half  of 
Portugal’s MEPs change after every quinquennial election, and the turn-
over  of  their  staffs  is  even  greater.  Since  European  political  capital  is  a 
fungible asset, people can take their knowledge with them if they leave a 
job in Brussels. It is an asset that can be used in dealing with issues that 
arise in their next job, whether in the public or the private sector. This is 
most evident when a person becomes a lobbyist. 

Changes in the EU since Portugal joined makes it desirable to increase the 
number of citizens knowing how to work in an EU as well as a national 
political setting. In 1986 Portugal was one of twelve member states; rounds 
of enlargement since have more than doubled the membership to 28 states. 
Even though many are less populous and have more economic problems 
than Portugal, every member state can claim equality in participation in 
EU deliberations. A Portuguese representative wanting to speak in a meet-
ing is now competing with more than two dozen other voices. If Portugal 
is to maintain the same presence in EU deliberations, it must do more than 
maintain its stock of European political capital; it must be increased. The 
succeeding chapters show how Portugal stands in three main institutions 
of the EU, the Commission, the Permanent Representative’s Office and the 
European  Parliament.  It  concludes  by  making  recommendations  about 
actions that the Portuguese government could take to increase its pool of 
European political capital. 

12

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

I

Only one-quarter of 
Commissioners have a 
Portuguese national in 
their cabinet

PORTUGUESE AS SUPRA-
NATIONAL CIVIL SERVANTS

The  Commission.  Commissioners  are  the  public  political 
face  of  the  Europe  Commission;  each  heads  a  Directorate 
General  responsible  for  a  specific  bloc  of  policies.  While 
each  country  has  the  right  to  nominate  one  person  to  a 
post as Commissioner, they are meant to be supra-national 
politicians promoting the collective interests of EU institu-
tions. When Jose Manuel Barroso became President of the 
Commission this ensured that a Portuguese voice would be 
heard  at  the  top  level,  even  if  speaking  English  or  French. 
In  his  current  post,  Barroso  is  not  acting  as  a  Portuguese 
citizen but as a European citizen speaking  in the name of 
28 member states and 500 million Europeans. This tempo-
rary  public  relations  advantage  will  disappear  with  the 
new  Commission  confirmed  in  autumn,  2014.  Moreover, 
the  expansion  of  the  EU  threatens  the  traditional  practice 
of  giving  every  member  state  the  right  to  nominate  one 
Commissioner.  Although  there  is  now  a  formal  commit-
ment to reduce the number of Commissioners by one-third, 
protests  from  small  states  have  led  to  the  suspension  of 
implementation.  Thus,  Portuguese  will  have  one  member 
of  the  Commission  established  after  the  2014  European 
Parliament election. 

In the early decades of the EU, the tasks of Commissioners 
was  much  lighter  than  today  and  some  Commissioners 
sought to use their Brussels post as a springboard for return-
ing to a high level national political post. This was reflected 
in  their  appointment  of  a  cabinet  of  fellow-nationals  who 
could promote their own careers back home. On becoming 
President  of  the  Commission,  Romano  Prodi  decreed  that 
all cabinets had to consist of at least three different nation-
alities;  the  head  or  deputy  head  had  to  be  of  a  different 
nationality than the Commissioner; and at least three of its 
approximately half a dozen members must be selected from 
the ranks of Commission civil servants. Concurrently, the 
growth in the policy responsibilities of each Commissioner 
has encouraged each cabinet to concentrate on EU issues for 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

13

which their Commissioner is responsible. Limited attention 
is  now  given  to  links  with  the  Commissioner’s  country  of 
origin  (Kassim  et  al.,  2013:  197ff).  For  example,  half  the 
members of the cabinet of Jose Manuel Barroso, the President 
of  the  Commission,  are  not  Portuguese.  Notwithstanding 
the  responsibility  of  each  cabinet  to  manage  relations 
between their Commissioner and the Presidency, only one-
quarter  of  Commissioners  have  a  Portuguese  national  in 
their cabinet. 

Commission  civil  servants  are  hundreds  of  times  more 
numerous than Commissioners and their cabinets. They are 
distinct among supra-national civil servants in being a part 
of an institution with many of the powers of the executive 
branch  of  national  governments  (cf.  Trondal,  2010:  124). 
To  describe  Commission  staff  as  ‘faceless  eurocrats’  is  a 
misleading half truth. They are faceless in the sense of not 
being  well  known  publicly.  However,  they  are  not  bureau-
crats, for Commission staff do not directly administer the 
great majority of the EU’s programmes; this task is delegated 
to bureaucrats in member states or to specialised EU agen-
cies. Hundreds of staff are regularly engaged in formulating 
policies.  They  collect  information  about  current  problems 
that  the  EU  can  address;  they  consider  the  constellation 
of  national,  partisan  and  interest  group  views  concerning 
action;  and  initiate  legislative  proposals  for  the  European 
Parliament and Council to act upon. While the great major-
ity  of  these  proposals  are  relatively  narrow  in  scope  and 
impact, collectively they constitute a substantial portion of 
the annual policy outputs of the EU.

The  expansion  of  the  EU’s  powers  and  membership  has 
led to the size of its staff increasing by 15 times. When the 
Commission  was  established  in  1957,  it  was  expected  to 
need no more than 2,000 officials to act on behalf of what 
were then six member states. At the time of Portugal’s entry 
in  1986,  the  number  of  member  states  had  doubled  while 
the number of Commission staff had quadrupled. After the 
EU expanded to 15 member states in the 1990s, the size of 
the staff again more than doubled. Since the EU has almost 
doubled in member states since 2004 and in powers too, the 

14

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Commission’s staff has increased to more than 32,000 (Key 
Figures, 2013). 

As  citizens  of  the  European  Union,  all  Portuguese  can 
apply  for  a  post  with  the  European  Commission.  While 
Commission  staff  must  take  the views of  national  govern-
ments  into  account,  they  are  not  subordinate  to  national 
governments. Moreover, even though the EU’s co-decision 
process requires the Council and the Parliament to approve 
legislation, the Commission has the monopoly on initiating 
legislation. In the words of the President of the Commission, 
Jose Manuel Barroso (2006: 6): 

The Commission has a unique and historical mission 
to be more than just a civil service. It is there to speak 
up for European ideals and values, to take action to 
support those values, and to defend the European 
interest.

Formal and informal requirements for becoming an EU civil 
servant. The first responsibility of the European Personnel 
Selection  Office  (EPSO:  www.epso.europa.eu)  is  to  make 
merit rather than national and partisan patronage, the chief 
criterion  for  the  appointment  of  staff.  It  seeks  to  do  so  by 
making transparent the qualifications required for EU posts 
and the steps that individuals must take to secure a post. The 
tens of thousands applying for posts each year are screened 
through a series of written tests and tests of language compe-
tence,  and  then  for  the  ability  to  work  as  part  of  a  multi-
national team. Exceptions to rules against favouring nation-
alities  arise  when  a  new  member  state  is  admitted.  Since 
enlargement tends to increase the number of Commission 
posts,  a  significant  number  of  new  places  are  temporar-
ily earmarked for recruits from new member states; this is 
especially  the  case  for  translators.  Appointments  received 
in this way may be converted into permanent Commission 
posts without going through the full competition. Portugal 
was a beneficiary of this policy when it joined the EU in1986 
and more than a dozen countries have benefited since. 

Because  the  EU  is  formally  committed  to  respecting  the 
use of all the national languages of member states, an abil-
ity to work in a foreign language is an essential requirement 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

15

The 2012 Eurobarometer 
survey of the language 
competence of adults 
found that Portugal 
ranks near the bottom of 
European states

to apply for a Commission post. The working languages of 
the  EU  are  effectively  French  and  English.  At  a  minimum 
Portuguese  who  wish  to  qualify  for  an  EC  post  should 
normally have a knowledge of both these languages; German 
is also gaining recognition as a third working language.

Because Portuguese is not a widely used language in Europe, 
there is a structural incentive for citizens to learn at least one 
foreign language. However, the 2012 Eurobarometer survey 
of  the  language  competence  of  adults  found  that  Portugal 
ranks near the bottom of European states (Table 1.1). Forty-
one  percent  of  Portuguese  adults  reported  that  they  could 
not carry on a conversation in a foreign language, a propor-
tion  exceeded  only  by  Italy  and  Hungary.  The  foreign 
languages  that  Portuguese  most  often  claim  to  know  are 
English,  27  percent;  French,  15  percent;  and  Spanish,  10 
percent. Only 1 percent say that they understand German, 
the third most important language in Brussels. The ability to 
converse in English is more than one-quarter below the EU 
average  of  38  percent.  Moreover,  the  percentage  of 
Portuguese  adults  reporting  knowledge  of  two  foreign 
languages is only 13 percent, barely half the average for EU 
countries.  This  low  level  is  matched  only  by  Hungary  and 
the  United  Kingdom.  Among  Portuguese  graduates,  the 
pattern  is  much  different,  since  getting  a  good  degree  can 
require young Portuguese to have a working knowledge of at 
least one foreign language. 

Table 1.1 Knowledge of Foreign Languages

Portugal

Austria Belgium Czech Hungary All

(Percent reporting ability to converse)

Two or  
more

One

None

13

46

41

27

51

22

50

22

28

22

27

51

13

22

65

25

29

46

Source: Special Eurobarometer Survey No. 386, 2012. 

A university degree is required to apply for an EU post and 
27  percent  of  Portuguese  in  the  age  bracket  most  relevant 
for  EC  recruitment,  30  to  34,  have  completed  a  university 
degree. Whilst this is below the EU average of 38 percent, it 

16

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

is large enough to provide a pool of young Portuguese meet-
ing this essential requirement. Notwithstanding the impor-
tance  of  preparing  legal  instruments  in  the  work  of  the 
Commission, there are no restrictions on the field of study 
at University. A survey of Commission officials concludes, 
‘The  educational  background  of  officials  in  the  organiza-
tion  is  impressively  diverse’  (Kassim  et  al.,  2013:  40).  The 
European Union Commission in Question (EUCIQ)1 survey 
of Commission staff at the policymaking level found that 28 
percent had degrees in business or economics; 24 percent in 
law; 25 percent in science and maths; 15 percent in the social 
sciences, including political studies and international rela-
tions; and 8 percent in other fields. The variety of academic 
backgrounds  and  the  small  proportion  concentrating  in 
politics and international relations rejects the idea that the 
Commission simply recruits ‘clones of itself’ (Kassim et al., 
2013: 258). Portuguese staff are distinctive in that 47 percent 
have  degrees  in  business  studies  or  economics.  Given  the 
importance  of  economic  issues  in  the  EU  since  the  2008 
eurozone crisis, this distinctive feature of Portuguese staff 
is especially noteworthy. 

While  still  at  university,  students  can  take  the  first  step 
toward  gaining  the  political  capital  required  to  work  in  a 
foreign  language  by  studying  abroad.  A  majority  of 
European  Commission  officials  have  studied  abroad  and 
more than one-third have done so for a year or more (Kassim 
et al., 2013: 258 ff). Portuguese students are more than half 
again  as  likely  to  study  abroad  as  are  European  students 
generally (Figure 1.1). By comparison with young people in 
countries  of  similar  population  size,  Portuguese  are  more 

1.  The EUCIQ survey was conducted by a multi-national academic team 
of  Hussein  Kassim,  John  Peter,  Michael  W.  Bauer,  Sara  Connolly, 
Renaud Dehousse, Liesbet Hooghe and Andrew Thompson and facili-
tated but not controlled by the European Commission. A total of 1,901 
administrators and cabinet members were interviewed, including 60 
Portuguese, many at the senior level. Online and elite interviews were 
also conducted. Full details are available in Kassim et al., (2013: 10ff). 
When  its  survey  data  is  cited  without  reference  to  page  numbers  in 
the study’s book, they have been specially calculated for this report by 
its published account. Elements of the data base will be available for 
academic use as of January, 2014.

Portuguese students are 
more than half again as 
likely to study abroad as 
are European students 
generally

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

17

likely to be Erasmus students than are Belgians, Czechs or 
Hungarians and are not far behind Austrians, who have the 
linguistic  and  geographical  advantages  of  easy  access  to 
German  universities.  Moreover,  the  absolute  number  is 
large  of  Portuguese  students  taking  advantage  of  EU 
programmes  promoting  student  mobility.  In  the  2011-12 
academic year, 5,269 Portuguese were Erasmus scholars at 
another  European  university  and  the  average  duration  of 
study was almost six months. An additional 1,215 were in 
company placements with enterprises elsewhere in Europe. 
Spain is the most popular destination attracting 24 percent 
of Portuguese Erasmus students; Italy comes second with 13 
percent. Poland and the Czech Republic, which offer a low 
cost of living and some course in English, attract one-sixth 
of  Portuguese  students.  By  contrast,  only  5  percent  of 
Portuguese going abroad study in Germany, and fewer still 
in  France  or  the  United  Kingdom.  The  choice  of  destina-
tions is a reminder that the motives encouraging Portuguese 
to study abroad are varied and the social skills gained are 
diffuse  rather  than  specific  to  European  political  capital 
(http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/doc/stat/1011). 

Figure 1.1 Erasmus Students as Percent of Graduates

6.7% 

6.5% 

6.4% 

4.7% 

10% 

8.8% 

8% 

7.4% 

6% 

4% 

2% 

0% 

Portugal  Austria  Belgium  Czech  Hungary  All EU 

Source: Erasmus: Facts, Figures & Trends. Brussels: DG Education and 
Training, 2011-12.

18

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Given  the  time  and  effort  required  to  gain  a  Commission 
post, a lot of motivation is required to succeed. One set of 
attractions  is  common  to  jobs  in  many  fields:  a  job  in  the 
Commission  offers  good  pay,  especially  to  people  from 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  and  it  also  offers  a  secure 
job.  A  very  different  attraction  is  political:  a  commitment 
to Europe as an ideal and an interest in the policymaking 
role of the Commission in many different areas (Figure 1.2). 
Among Portuguese officials, three in five were motivated by 
a political commitment to Europe. A similarly large number 
were  economically  motivated:  the  pay  and  job  security 
compared very favourably with what could be obtained in 
Portugal.  The  promise  of  a  good  career  with  high  quality 
work, whether defined by the policy area or the challenges 
of multi-national institutions, came third. The emphasis on 
material  considerations  among  staff  recruited  well  before 
the  2008  economic  crisis  implies  that  while  Portuguese 
working  in  the  Commission  tend  to  be  committed  to  the 
EU’s  political  goals,  pragmatic  economic  calculations  are 
equally important.

Figure 1.2 Reasons for Choosing a Career in the Commission

Committed to Europe 

Good pay 

Job security 

Promising career 

Quality of work 

Specific policy area 

Portugal  All 

62% 

72% 

58% 

53% 

41% 
43% 

39% 
38% 

16% 

33% 

10% 

23% 

Asked to apply 

Other 

7% 
7% 

13% 
11% 

0% 

20% 

40% 

60% 

80% 

100% 

Source: EUCIQ, 2008. See Kassim et al., 2013: p 54ff. 

While Portuguese 
working in the 
Commission tend to be 
committed to the EU’s 
political goals, pragmatic 
economic calculations 
are equally important.

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

19

To attract talented people with the appropriate mix of moti-
vations and to discourage people looking for a safe job, the 
information  given  applicants  emphasizes  what  is  distinc-
tive  about  working  for  the  Commission.  It  makes  use  of 
new social media such as Linked In and Facebook to circu-
late  videos.  Viewers  are  meant  to  ask  themselves:  Is  a  job 
in Brussels what I would really like and be qualified for? It 
encourages successful recruits to give talks about what they 
do to groups of potential applicants. A recurring theme is 
that  an  EU  job,  by  contrast  with  working  in  the  national 
civil  service,  involves  working  with  people  from  many 
different nationalities and working for multi-national rather 
than national interests.

Success in the concours. Competition for EU jobs is brutal. 
In  2012  there  were  45,356  applicants  for  a  career  job  as 
an  administrator  in  the  Commission.  The  number  of 
Portuguese applying, 3,159, was 7.0 percent, more than three 
times  the  country’s  share  of  the  EU  population.  EPSOS 
initially  screens  the  tens  of  thousands  of  applicants  by 
ensuring that they meet formal requirements for eligibility 
such as citizenship. This is followed by computerized exami-
nations in the main language of applicants and in French, 
English  or  German  as  a  second  language.  Tests  of  verbal, 
numerical  and  abstract  reasoning;  and  judgment  in  prob-
lematic situations are administered in more than 60 cities of 
the European Union and outside Europe where a significant 
number  of  eligible  candidates  are  present  (see  www.epso-
training.eu). 

Less than 2 percent of applicants are short-listed for a detailed 
assessment  in  the  final  stage  of  the  concours  (Figure  1.3). 
Finalists  are  assessed  by  a  series  of  individual  and  group 
competence tests intended to simulate actual working condi-
tions in EU posts; an oral presentation and a structured inter-
view. The number appointed varies slightly from year to year. 
In 2012 there were 233 laureates placed on the reserve list of 
persons qualified for an administrative job. Given Portugal’s 
population and the small number of permanent posts avail-
able each year, only a handful of Portuguese can hope to win 
a position. In 2012, there were 24 Portuguese laureates. While 
low  in  absolute  numbers,  Portuguese  were  more  than  one-

20

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

tenth  of  successful  competitors  in  the  concours.  However, 
they were less than 1 percent of all Portuguese who applied 
for a Commission post.

Figure 1.3 Competition for Commission Posts

Number 
3,500 

3,159 

3,000 

2,500 

2,000 

1,500 

1,000 

500 

0 

233 

24 

Portuguese 
applicant 

Succeeded:  
total 

Succeeded: 
Portuguese 

Source: European Personnel Selection Office: 2012 data for administrative 
posts

Successful candidates are placed on a list of people eligible 
to be appointed to a job in a specific DG or related EU insti-
tution.  Laureates  monitor  the  stream  of  posts  announced 
and apply for posts that meet their interests and skills. The 
process of actually finding a specific post used to take up to 
18  months  for  those  selected  as  eligible  to  be  employed  in 
an  EU  institution.  The  time  has  now  been  reduced  to  just 
under a year. It nonetheless remains long enough so that up 
to one-sixth of those successful in the competition do not 
take  up  employment  with  the  Commission,  remaining  in 
the job they held while competing for an EU post or find-
ing a preferred post elsewhere. In either case, their non-EU 
job will make good use of the European political capital that 
they had amassed in order to be successful in the concours. 
(Key Statistics, 2013; Kassim et al., 2013: 59). 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

21

Figure 1.4 Previous Careers of Commission Staff

Portuguese 

All others 

31% 

40% 

35% 
35% 

26% 

24% 

Civil service 

Private enterprise 

Research, educ'n 

Free professions 

EU, international orgs 

Other, none 

17% 

11% 

15% 

7% 

8% 
8% 

0% 

10% 

20% 

30% 

40% 

50% 

(Careers add up to more than 100%) 

Source: European Union Commission in Question, 2008.

By  contrast  with  jobs  that  follow  directly  from  university 
studies in law and medicine, new graduates cannot expect 
to  win  a  post  in  the  European  Commission  immediately 
on  completing  their  academic  course.  The  time  and  effort 
required  to  succeed  in  the  concours  results  in  the  average 
recruit not securing a job until age 30 or above The job or 
jobs  held  meanwhile  not  only  provide  an  income  but  also 
add  to  their  political  capital  nationally,  at  the  European 
level,  or  both.  In  the  diversity  of  their  work  experience, 
Portuguese  are  much  like  Commission  officials  of  other 
nationalities  (Figure  1.4;  Kassim  et  al.,  2013:  43).  Almost 
all  previously  worked  in  private  sector  enterprises  or  the 
professions, areas where the Single Europe Market has had 
a  major  immediate  impact.  Two-fifths  were  national  civil 
servants  prior  to  taking  a  post  in  Brussels.  Education  and 
research posts occupied about one-quarter of officials prior 
to joining the Commission. By contrast, relatively few have 
transferred from other EU agencies or from other interna-
tional bodies. Those who began their post-university career 

22

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

working  for  political  parties,  trade  unions  or  other  civil 
society organisations have little inclination to seek and gain 
a post in the Commission. The European Parliament offers 
many jobs suitable for such interests.

In addition, the European Commission offers young gradu-
ates  about  1,400  paid  posts  as  a  stagiaire  (intern)  open  to 
competition  on  a  Europe-wide  basis  (ec.europa.eu/stags/
about). These short-term posts of five months do not carry 
any promise of future employment in the EU, but they do 
give interns a basic stock of European political capital. While 
few Portuguese stagiaires subsequently gain a Commission 
post, the knowledge acquired is an asset when searching for 
jobs  as  lawyers,  economists  or  administrators  in  Portugal, 
Brussels or major organisations elsewhere. In October, 2013 
there  were  18,707  applications  for  stagiaire  posts  in  the 
Commission,  of  which  2,491  came  from  Portugal.  Of  this 
number,  23  were  successful.  While  this  was  3.4  percent  of 
the total receiving internships in the autumn competition, 
it  was  less  than  1  percent  of  Portuguese  applicants.  Thus, 
the very strong encouragement given young Portuguese to 
apply  not  only  helped  to  win  a  disproportionate  number 
of  posts  but  also  boosted  disappointment  among  the  99 
percent  of  Portuguese  candidates  who  were  unsuccessful. 
By  contrast,  among  the  almost  equal  number  of  Spanish 
who applied for stagiaire posts, more than twice as many, 59, 
were successful. Far fewer Swedes than Portuguese applied, 
but  this  more  selective  approach  resulted  in  one  of  eight 
Swedes  being  successful  (https://ec.europa.eu/stages/online/
cv/application_statistics.cfm) 

To gain flexibility and to meet ad hoc personnel needs, for 
example,  for  Information  Technology  specialists,  the  EU 
also employs some administrators on fixed-term contracts 
of three years, and renewable once. The selection procedure 
is  not  so  complex  and  there  is  greater  emphasis  on  very 
specific  skills.  There  are  also  temporary  contract  posts  in 
such  specialised  fields  as  scientific  research;  appointments 
are made by the agency offering the job. In 2012 there were 
5,919  EU  staff  employed  on  temporary  contracts  at  the 
administrative grade or its equivalent, increasing that staff 
by  one-quarter.  There  is  also  provision  for  hiring  consul-

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

23

tants  through  competitive  tender  and  a  data  base  of  EU 
recognised  experts  eligible  to  receive  temporary  work  for 
specific tasks.

Figure 1.5 Disproportionate Number of Portuguese in EC 

At the Administrative 
Grade, where policy 
decisions are made 
and implemented, 
Portuguese are over-
represented, filling 3.0 
percent of such posts

Posts 

10% 

8% 

6% 

4% 

2% 

0% 

        5.7% 
Higher admin 

    2.6% 
  EU staff 

      3.0% 
  Admin staff 

   2.1% 
EU pop’n 

(859)              (384)               (281) 

Source: DG Human Resources and Security, Statistical Bulletin, 2013. 
Senior administrative grades are points 11 to 16. 

The career paths of officials constituting the cabinet of the 
Commission  President,  Jose  Manuel  Barroso,  illustrate 
the  varied  routes  that  lead  people  to  Brussels.  Barroso 
himself  had  studied  in  Switzerland  and  the  United  States, 
taught  law  in  Lisbon,  been  a  member  of  the  Portuguese 
Parliament  and  government,  and  active  in  the  European 
People’s  Party  before  becoming  head  of  the  Commission. 
The German Chief of the cabinet was an academic and prac-
tising lawyer before moving to Brussels. The Deputy Chief, 
Hugo Sobral, graduated in international relations and then 
became a Portuguese diplomat specially in EU affairs before 
joining  the  Barroso  cabinet  in  2009.  Similarly,  the  senior 
economic  advisor,  Antonio  José  Cabral,  was  an  academic 
economist  and  Portuguese  civil  servant  before  becom-
ing  a  Commission  economist  in  1988.  The  other  ten  cabi-
net  members  have  similarly  mixed  experience  of  national, 
European  and  academic  institutions.  Their  nationalities 

24

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

are Austrian, Belgian, British, Dutch, German, Italian and 
Polish, as well as Portuguese. 

In  the  Commission  staff  of  more  than  32,000,  Portuguese 
hold  859  posts,  2.6  percent  of  the  total.  Portuguese  are  a 
higher proportion of total staff than long-standing member 
countries where living standards are much higher, such as 
Austria,  Finland  and  Sweden.  They  are  also  better  repre-
sented  than  in  new  member  states  such  as  the  Czech 
Republic and Hungary (Statistical Bulletin, 2013). A limited 
portion of total staff are at the Administrative Grade, where 
policy  decisions  are  made  and  implemented.  In  this  cate-
gory, Portuguese are over-represented, filling 3.0 percent of 
such  posts  (Figure  1.5)  and  more  numerous  than  citizens 
of countries such as Austria and Sweden. Even though the 
absolute  number  of  administrative  employees  in  the  most 
populous EU countries is greater than Portugal, all are rela-
tively under-represented in proportion to their share of the 
EU’s population. This reflects the EU’s readiness to prevent 
smaller states from being swamped by citizens of states up to 
ten times as populous as the median member state. 

The  over-representation  of  Portuguese  in  the  Commission 
is  even  more  striking  in  the  higher  administrative  grades. 
Whereas  only  5  percent  of  Commission  posts  are  at  the 
highest grades of 14 to 16, among Portuguese 7 percent work 
at this level. Whereas those working at the second highest 
level, grades, 11 to 13, are less than two in five of adminis-
trative  staff,  two-thirds  of  Portuguese  in  the  Commission 
are  working  at  this  level.  Thus,  Portuguese  constitute  5.7 
percent  of  the  higher-grade  Commission  administrators 
(Figure 1.4). Reciprocally, Portuguese tend to be less repre-
sented at the lower and entry levels of administrative staff. 

EU  policy  opposes  gender  discrimination  in  staffing.  In 
the  Commission’s  total  administrative  staff,  59  percent 
are  men  and  41  percent  women.  The  proportions  are  very 
similar for Portuguese: 57 percent are men and 43 percent 
women. However, there are significant signs of change. At 
the entry level grades of 5 to 7, women are 55 percent of these 
newer recruits as against 45 percent male. However, among 
Portuguese  three  in  five  in  the  entry  level  administrative 
grades are men (Statistical Bulletin, 2013).

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

25

Whereas  partisanship  is  the  basis  of  recruiting  MEPs 
and  organising  the  work  of  the  European  Parliament,  the 
Commission  operates  differently.  The  priority  of  the  EU’s 
supra-national  principles  does  not  exclude  individuals 
having political values that are normally developed before 
becoming  EU  employees.  The  critical  analytic  question  is 
whether the political values tend to be representative of the 
range of political values in Europe as a whole.

To  ascertain  economic  outlooks,  the  EUCIQ  survey  asked 
Commission staff: People often think of themselves in terms 
of  their  personal  philosophical  stance  on  economic  issues. 
Some favour an active role for government on economic policy 
questions.  Others  look  primarily  to  markets.  Where  would 
you place yourself in terms of economic philosophy on a scale 
from 0 (a greater role for government to 5 (centrist) to 10 (a 
greater role for markets)? This choice of words avoided the 
ambiguity of the terms left and right. The mean score for all 
respondents  was  5.5,  very  close  to  the  central  point  of  the 
scale and there was a normal distribution around the centre. 
The  mean  score  for  Portuguese  respondents  was  margin-
ally closer, 5.4, virtually the same as that of Austrians and 
Belgians,  and  slightly  less  pro-market  than  Czechs  and 
Hungarians  reacting  against  their  past  experience  of  a 
state-controlled  economy.  Although  the  economic  values 
mentioned have clear partisan implications, a big majority 
of officials said that partisan views are of little importance 
in their work.

In the words of one respondent: 

Am I here to pursue the agenda of one political party? 
That’s clearly not relevant. Am I here to focus on the 
president’s agenda? Yes, then that is very high on my 
priorities list. And does the president have political 
convictions? Does he belong to a political party? Yes, 
he does. But this is not my agenda. This is my political 
master’s agenda (Kassim et al., 2013: 99).

Since  Commissioners  tend  to  change  every  five  years,  a 
Commission civil servant must be sufficiently open-minded 
in  their  economic  outlook  to  adapt  to  different  political 
agendas. 

26

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Historically  European  countries  have  been  characterized 
by major differences in social and cultural values between 
conservatives  and  liberals.  Inglehart  (1997)  has  theorized 
that  liberal  values  are  part  of  a  ‘post-modern’  outlook  of 
people  with  higher  education  and  cosmopolitan  contacts 
with  people  from  different  countries.  These  characteris-
tics  are  widespread  among  Commission  staff.  The  EUCIQ 
survey assessed these values by asking: People often think of 
themselves in terms of their personal philosophical stance 
on  social  and  cultural  issues.  Many  people  who  consider 
themselves  to  be  liberal  tend  to  favour  expanded  personal 
freedom on, for example, abortion, same-sex marriage and 
so on. People on the conservative side tend to favour more 
traditional  notions  of  family,  morality  and  order.  Where 
would you place yourself in terms of social-cultural philos-
ophy on a scale ranging from 0 (more liberal) to 10 (more 
conservative)?  Among  Commission  staff,  the  mean  score, 
3.7 is at the liberal end of the scale, and 64 percent take a 
position on the liberal end of the scale. The mean score for 
Portuguese staff, 3.9, is very close to the Commission mean. 
It is slightly less liberal than that for Austrians and slightly 
more so than for Hungarians. In all these countries there is 
a normal distribution of opinion around the liberal mean. 

The denationalizing effect of Commission work

Individuals do not work for the EU in general. Instead, staff 
are appointed to a specific post within one of the two dozen 
Directorate  Generals  (DGs),  each  of  which  has  a  different 
Commissioner. The Washington maxim-- Where you stand 
depends  on  where  you  sit  --emphasizes  that  what  an  indi-
vidual  official  does  is  much  affected  by  the  organization 
in  which  they  work.  For  example,  budget  officials  tend  to 
oppose increases in public spending, while those in an agri-
culture ministry advocate spending to support farm prices. 
This proposition is equally relevant in Brussels.

The Commission has more than twice as many Directorates 
as  Portugal  has  ministries.  Since  the  total  number  of 
Commission  civil  servants  is  much  smaller  than  that  of 
member states, the median DG has less than 700 employees. 
Given its population, Portugal could expect to have about 16 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

27

citizens in the average DG. Eight DGs have more Portuguese 
than this and 18 have fewer (Figure 1.6). Of the DGs where 
Portuguese are more numerous, Agriculture and Regional 
Policy  are  important  because  they  disburse  large  amounts 
of EU funds from which Portugal benefits. In the Economics 
& Finance DG, which has a special responsibility for moni-
toring  whether  Portugal  is  meeting  its  eurozone  commit-
ments  related  to  receiving  financial  aid,  Portugal  has  15 
staff.  In  more  than  one-quarter  of  departments  there  are 
less than ten Portuguese. DGs vary in total staff size; thus, 
even though there are only 12 Portuguese in the DG dealing 
with Maritime Affairs and Fishing, they constitute 4 percent 
of its staff. Portugal’s historically limited research capacity 
is reflected in the fact that even though its share of staff in 
this well-funded DG is one-third below its share of popula-
tion. Whether Portuguese are over or under-represented in 
a Commission DG, in absolute terms Portuguese are few in 
each  of  the  many  Brussels  buildings  in  which  EC  policies 
are drafted. 

The  work  of  Commission  officials  is  immediately  deter-
mined by the specific terms of reference of their job within 
a  DG  rather  than  by  their  nationality  or  party  preference 
(Kassim et al., 2013: 48ff). A Portuguese working in a DG 
concerned  with  rail  transport  will  have  little  occasion  to 
deal with problems of immediate relevance to Portugal. By 
contrast, a Portuguese in a DG concerned with fishing may 
be  asked  to  contribute  his  or  her  national  knowledge  to  a 
discussion, insofar as knowledge of national circumstances 
is  relevant  to  multi-national  decisions.  Yet  even  though  a 
Portuguese diplomat seconded to serve for a period in the 
European External Action Service (EEAS) retains a perma-
nent job as a Portuguese civil servant, for the duration of his 
or her EEAS employment the diplomat is expected to repre-
sent the European Union as a whole rather than Portugal. 

Each  DG  is  subdivided  into  a  range  of  directorates,  each 
further  subdivided  into  more  specialized  units  and  some-
times sub-units. It is the units within a DG that are the first 
movers of a formal policy proposal before it is scrutinized 
at higher levels. While the text of a unit’s proposal can be 
altered, as long as it shows awareness of the multi-national 

28

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

politics  of  the  EU  co-decision  process,  it  is  rarely  rejected 
in its entirety. The initial text is of particular importance to 
states such as Portugal, because it lacks the political weight 
of a large state that can quash Commission proposals that it 
dislikes (Rose, Corona and Trechsel, 2013).

Figure 1.6 Portuguese in Commission Directorates

(Percentage of DG's staff Portuguese) 

Joint Centres 
Aid Development 
Regions 
Agriculture 
Communication 
Comm'n Technology 
Research 
Eurostat 
Enterprise 
Employment & Social 
Economics & Finance 
Transport 
Health, Consumers 
Education, Culture 
Competition 
Justice 
Trade 
Maritime 
Informatics 
Tax, Customs 
Environment 
Budget 
Home 
Energy 
Internal Market 
Humanitarian, Civil 
Enlargement 
Climate 

0 

20 

40 

60 
Number of Portuguese 

80 

100 

120 

Source: Key Statistics. Lesser service agencies omitted. Because of its 
exceptional character, the DG for Interpretation and Translation is not in 
the above figure.

The multi-national character of the European Commission 
adds  a  corollary  to  Miles’s  law:  Where  you  stand  also 
depends  upon  who  you  sit  next  to.  For  a  Portuguese,  it  is 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

29

rarely  another  Portuguese.  The  combination  of  numerous 
DGs and the division of posts among citizens of 28 member 
states means that no DG is staffed predominantly by citizens 
from a single member state. For example, there are only 65 
Germans in the Economics & Finance DG and 85 French in 
Agriculture. Thus, anyone moving from a job in a national 
ministry in Lisbon to a DG dealing with similar problems 
experiences  a  radical  shift  in  their  work  environment.  He 
or she is no longer sitting with fellow Portuguese but with 
Europeans from 27 other countries. 

National diversity is the basic principle in staffing the units 
where  officials  sit  and  share  coffee  machines  and  respon-
sibility  for  specific  tasks.  National  diversity  ensures  that 
when  a  proposal  is  being  evaluated  there  will  be  people 
from  Northern  and  Southern  Europe,  and  from  Eastern 
and Western Europe, each of whom is free to call attention 
to points especially pertinent to their region or country on 
the basis of their knowledge of national institutions, knowl-
edge that often requires knowledge of the national language. 
In the words of one Commission official, ‘You need mixed 
teams,  you  need  mixed  skills,  you  need  mixed  cultural 
bases  to  come  to  the  best  outcomes’  (Kassim  et  al.,  2013: 
50). Citizens of a country are able to assess weak points in a 
national case as well as strong points. 

If you ask a young brilliant Polish student who has just 
joined the Commission to attack the Polish government 
on some state aid dossier, you will find them eager to 
do so, and they’re very good at it. (Quoted in Kassim et 
al., 2013: 51). 

The  diversity  of  people  involved  in  any  decision-making 
committee ensures that any argument to take a single coun-
try’s situation into account must be supported with reasons 
that  can  be  acceptable  to  colleagues  from  other  parts  of 
Europe too. When the work of a DG unit is technical, and this 
is often the case, then the starting point for evaluation is not 
nationality  but  a  shared  body  of  knowledge,  whether  legal, 
environmental or scientific (Haas, 1992). This may encourage 
consensus in the harder sciences, while encouraging divisions 
in  economic  affairs,  where  there  are  differences  of  opinion 

30

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

among  economists  within as well as across countries about 
how to deal with such issues as public sector deficits, reducing 
unemployment and promoting economic growth.

Becoming a Commission official does not affect an individu-
al’s national citizenship, but it does have a strong de-nation-
alizing  effect  on  how  policies  are  discussed  within  the 
Commission.  Whereas  people  working  in  a  multi-national 
corporation are part of a single organization with common 
goals, in the Commission the definition of goals for each DG 
is a matter of political debate between governments and inter-
ests spread across the Continent. New recruits undergo inten-
sive socialization in the norms and activities appropriate to 
working in a multi-national European environment. For offi-
cials from less populous member states such as Portugal there 
is a high likelihood that in most meetings no one else in the 
room will know their country’s language and laws. The dena-
tionalizing effect of working in a multi-national environment 
is direct and continuing. To succeed in the Commission post, 
an individual, whatever his or her nationality, must adapt to 
this environment. The formal loyalty to supra-national values 
and interests is re-enforced by the daily necessity of thinking 
in a framework very different from that of national politics. In 
the words of one official:

One of the best things about the Commission is 
working in this intercultural environment. It’s 
fantastic. You forget nationality a lot of the time and 
this is brilliant (quoted in Kassim, 2013: 49). 

Daily  engagement  with  colleagues  at  work  builds  strong 
informal  ties  within  a  DG  (Christiansen  and  Neuhold, 
2013).  When  the  EUCIQ  survey  asked  officials  how  they 
first  made  informal  contact  with  other  people  in  their 
network,  more  than  four-fifths  replied  that  it  is  based  on 
professional contacts made in the course of their work. Less 
than 10 percent mention nationality as a relevant factor and 
fewer still refer to a common education or party affiliation 
(Kassim et al., 2013: 86). What is true for Commission staff 
as a whole is also true for Portuguese.

Many issues within a unit affect other DGs, each of which is 
responsible for some measures required to arrive at an effec-

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

31

tive EU policy. Building alliances with other affected DGs 
is  important  in  order  to  craft  a  policy  that  will  be  accept-
able to the Council and the European Parliament. Personal 
contacts  with  other  Commission  officials  are  the  primary 
means  of  building  networks.  Two-thirds  of  Commission 
staff rely most on personal contacts as do half of Portuguese 
interviewed in the EUCIQ survey (Figure 1.7). By contrast, 
only  18  percent  of  Commission  officials  used  national-
ity  as  the  basis  for  networking  compared  to  30  percent  of 
Portuguese.  The  difference  may  reflect  the  disproportion-
ate  number  of  Portuguese  currently  in  decision-making 
posts.  Belonging  to  a  language  group  common  to  several 
countries, such as French, facilitates networking; it is found 
useful  by  one-tenth  of  Commission  staff.  Since  no  other 
member state speaks Portuguese, this type of link is of little 
use to Portuguese.

Figure 1.7 Sources of Informal Commission Networks

Personal 

Nationality 

Portuguese 

All 

50% 

68% 

30% 

18% 

Language group 

10% 

4% 

Party, ideology 

Education 

3% 
4% 

0% 

3% 

Other 

6% 

3% 

0% 

20% 

40% 

60% 

80% 

100% 

Source: EUCIQ Responses estimated from graphic in Kassim et al, p.85 

Whatever  the  nationality  of  a  Commission  official,  be  it 
Portuguese or German, it is necessary to secure agreement 
within a multi-national unit and endorsement at each stage 
of  a  multi-stage  review  within  a  DG  and  between  DGs 

Only 18 percent of 
Commission officials 
used nationality as the 
basis for networking 
compared to 30 percent 
of Portuguese

32

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

(Falkner, 2012). This ensures that a policy cannot be stated 
in  terms  of  the  national  interest  of  any  official  drafting  it. 
Instead,  it  must  be  stated  in  terms  of  a  broader  interest, 
whether pragmatic, European or both. As an official inter-
viewed in the EUCIQ project declared, ‘If European citizens 
exist at all, they exist here’ (Kassim et al., 2013: 49). 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

33

II 

PORTUGUESE CIVIL SERVANTS 
IN BRUSSELS

Whereas  the  Commission  recruits  Portuguese  to  serve  as 
supra-national  civil  servants,  the  EU’s  intergovernmental 
institutions give national civil servants the opportunity to 
represent their government in the Committee of Permanent 
Representatives  (COREPER).  National  officials  also  act  as 
national  representatives  in  the  many  intergovernmental 
working  parties  that  consider  Commission  proposals  that 
must be endorsed and implemented by the governments of 
member  states  (Blom-Hansen,  2011).  In  addition,  national 
officials can hold posts in Commission DGs on a temporary 
basis  (Trondal,  2010).  Decisions  about  which  Portuguese 
participate in these EU meetings are taken by the Portuguese 
government. In accord with the EU principle of the juridi-
cal equality of all member states, differences in population 
do  not  create  major  disparities  between  countries  in  the 
number  of  officials  participating  in  EU  intergovernmental 
discussions. 

The  Permanent  Representative’s  (PERMREP)  Office.  The 
primary tasks of Portugal’s PERMREP’s Office are to moni-
tor  policy  proposals  under  discussions  within  a  DG;  to 
work  with  likeminded  governments  to  alter  proposals  to 
suit  Portuguese  interests  better;  and  to  ensure  that  deci-
sions taken in principle at the EU level can be implemented 
without difficulty by Portuguese institutions (see Rose and 
Trechsel, 2013). The organization of each PERMREP’s Office 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  national  government.  At  the  top  of 
the Portuguese Office is the Ambassador Extraordinary and 
Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative, Domingos Fezas 
Vital. He represents the government in COREPER II, which 
deals with politically contentious issues likely to require the 
attention  of  ministers  in  Lisbon  and  other  national  capi-
tals.  His  deputy,  Pedro  Costa  Pereira,  also  of  Ambassador 
rank,  deals  with  the  much  larger  volume  of  measures  in 
COREPER that require scrutiny by national officials but do 
not  involve  political  issues  of  concern  to  ministers.  Graça 
Mira Gomes, the third ranking official, represents Portugal 

34

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

in the Political and Security Committee. When a Portuguese 
minister comes to an EU meeting to deal with political issues 
in the multi-national Council, he or she relies on PERMREP 
officials for information and political intelligence about the 
positions of ministers from other countries with whom they 
must deal. 

Table 2.1 Staffing of Portuguese Permrep Office

Economy (23)

Economic and Financial Affairs, 6. Industrial 
Policy, Energy and Internal Market, 4. Agriculture 
and Fisheries, 4. Environment, 3. Information and 
Communications Technology, 2. Transport and 
Communications, 2. Regional policy, 1. Research 
and Space, 1

International 
affairs (13)

External Relations, 7. Foreign and Security Policy, 
5. External Assistance, 1

Justice (9)

Justice and Home Affairs, 7. Legal Affairs, 2

Social welfare (5)

Employment and Social Affairs, 2. Culture and 
Education, 2. Health, 1

EU institutions (4)

PERMREP 
Services (28)

COREPER Coordination, 2. Relations with 
European Parliament, 1. Portuguese in EU insti-
tutions, 1

 Portuguese Outermost Regions, 2. Press and 
Information, 1. Administration, 4. Secretariat, 18. 
Informatics, 2. Protocol, 1

Source: www.missaoportugal.mne.pt

Since  PERMREP  officials  react  to  proposals  that  the 
Commission  has  a  monopoly  right  to  prepare,  the  size  of 
the Office staff is small by comparison with that of DGs and 
smaller  still  by  comparison  with  ministries  in  Lisbon.  The 
whole range of EU policies are monitored by about 60 profes-
sionals; in addition, about 30 provide secretarial and admin-
istrative  support  (Table  2.1).  The  staff  are  normally  mid-
career; the age of most is in their forties. The gender balance 
is slightly more equal than for Portuguese in the European 
Commission: there are five men for four women among the 
PERMREP professionals. Since each state has equal represen-
tation in each EU committee of COREPER, while more popu-
lous states have larger Offices, they are not large in propor-
tion to their population. The size of the German PERMREP’s 
Office, for example, is about twice that of Portugal. 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

35

Up to nine-tenths of proposals coming from DGs are deemed 
not  politically  contentious  and  reviewed  by  PERMREP 
staff  without  reference  to  ministers  (Häge,  2013:  22ff). 
Collectively,  Commission  proposals  cover  many  different 
fields of public policy and differ in the specialised attention 
that they require. This dispersion results in the responsibil-
ity of the Portuguese PERMREP’s Office being divided into 
two dozen units that tend to shadow the output of particu-
lar DGs (Table 2.1). Portuguese in each unit attend relevant 
Working Parties of COREPER along with officials from 27 
other  national  PERMREP  Offices.  While  each  country’s 
representative is free to speak, the size of meetings and the 
need for multi-national consensus means that much of the 
role of a Portuguese official at such meetings is to listen and 
evaluate views emerging that are likely to form the group’s 
consensus. It can accept views expressed by other national 
officials as long as they are in accord with Portuguese views. 
If problems are created, the priority is to see if compromises 
can be negotiated (see Häge, 2013: chapters 9-11).

Most PERMREP staff concentrate on three areas in which 
the EU is specially active, the economy, international affairs, 
and  justice  and  related  home  affairs  (Table  2.1). The  reach 
of multi-level governance from Brussels to remote national 
regions  is  shown  by  two  PERMREP  officials  monitoring 
how what is done there affects Madeira and the Azores. The 
contrast  between  the  priorities  of  the  EU  and  of  national 
governments  is  illustrated  by  the  coverage  given  policy 
areas  to  which  the  subsidiarity  principle  applies.  Portugal 
has  only  two  officials  monitoring  Employment  and  Social 
Affairs and two monitoring Education and Culture, and one 
covering health. These are the policy areas that account for a 
large portion of the government’s public expenditure.

Many  proposals  that  DGs  put  forward  require  special-
ist  knowledge  to  evaluate.  This  is  more  often  found  in 
national ministries that deal with issues such as agriculture 
or the environment than in the ministry of foreign affairs 
(Jalali,  2012).  Hence,  the  staff  in  the  PERMREP’s  Office 
combines an almost equal number of people seconded from 
the  national  civil  service  and  career  diplomats.  When  the 
need  arises  for  specialist  skills  in  a  field  such  as  energy,  a 

36

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

qualified  individual  may  even  be  recruited  from  outside 
the  Portuguese  public  service.  Since  it  takes  time  for  offi-
cials new to Brussels to learn how it works and adjust to its 
distinctive multi-national approach, officials assigned to the 
PERMREP’s Office are expected to be there for a minimum 
of three years and most remain for up to six years. 

A  typical  example  of  how  technical  issues  and  diplomatic 
negotiations  are  required  is  the  agreement  of  amend-
ments  to  the  Geographical  Indications  Regulation,  an  EU 
measuring originally adopted in 1992 to protect the use of 
geographical labels, such as Parma Ham or Burgundy wine, 
in goods marketed in the Single Europe Market, (see Häge, 
2013:  104f-113).  The  Commission  sent  proposed  amend-
ments to COREPER in March, 2002. These proposals were 
assigned to its Special Committee on Agriculture, and then 
to  a  Working  Party.  Portugal  and  France  wanted  sea  salt 
covered,  but  the  Commission  objected  that  this  was  not 
an  agricultural  product;  they  also  wanted  wool  fibre  and 
wicker covered. When Italy raised demands to make region-
ally protected goods packaged outside the region abandon 
the  use  of  its  name,  Portugal  supported  this  move  along 
with  France  and  Spain.  More  than  a  dozen  formal  meet-
ings followed involving the Commission and the European 
Parliament as well as representatives of national PERMREPs 
Offices. By working with representatives of other countries 
sharing  a  common  objection  to  proposed  amendments, 
demands were met such as restrictions on packaging goods 
outside  a  specially  recognised  region  of  origin.  Thirteen 
months  after  the  process  started,  an  agreed  proposal  was 
formally  endorsed  by  ministers  as  an  agenda  item  of  the 
Agriculture and Fishers Council. 

When  tours  of  duty  in  Brussels  end,  the  European  politi-
cal  capital  that  Portuguese  officials  acquire  by  working  in 
Brussels is circulated within the public service as they are 
re-assigned  elsewhere.  Diplomats  go  to  a  job  in  another 
country or  continent  or are re-assigned to  the ministry of 
foreign affairs in Lisbon. Civil servants who have come from 
domestic  ministries  normally  return  to  the  same  minis-
try,  where  they  can  spread  the  knowledge  gained  of  how 
EU  institutions  deal  with  issues  affecting  their  ministry. 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

37

Cumulatively, this creates a pool of well over one hundred 
officials dispersed in the Portuguese public service and able 
to brief the larger number who have not, or not yet, worked 
in Brussels. 

The unitary rather than federal character of the Portuguese 
state and the absence of coalition governments as in Benelux 
countries  allows  the  Portuguese  PERMREP’s  Office  to 
concentrate on shadowing the policy process in Brussels. By 
contrast, the federal, corporatist and grand coalition struc-
ture of the Austrian government produces a different form 
of organisation. Many of the basic units in its PERMREP’s 
Office are links to Federal Ministries in Vienna rather than 
to DGs in Brussels. Moreover, Austria not only makes provi-
sion for linking with the federal Länder but also with confed-
erations of local authorities; chambers of commerce, labour 
and agriculture; trade unions, industries, and the national 
bank. Hungary, like Portugal a state with a relatively simple 
institutional structure, organizes its Office into fewer units, 
each of which shadows more DGs. The combination of fewer 
units  and  up  to  half  a  dozen  staff  in  each  makes  it  easier 
for Hungarians to share knowledge about what is happening 
in  different  DGs  and  to  have  a  mixture  of  diplomatic  and 
ministry staff dealing with negotiations about issues that are 
both politically and technically complex.

Expanding the participation of Portuguese in the intergov-
ernmental policy process.

While the Commission has a monopoly on proposing poli-
cies,  to  become  effective  most  require  implementation  by 
national  governments  with  differing  legal  systems  and 
administrative  structures.  Because  all  national  consider-
ations cannot be fully represented within the small DG units 
preparing  measures,  the  Commission  engages  in  continu-
ing  discussions  with  Expert  Groups  (see  e.g.  Christiansen 
and Larsson, 2007; Blom-Hansen, 2011). There are currently 
more  than  500  permanent  Groups  and  more  than  350 
temporary Groups. They tend to be linked with policies of 
a  limited  number  of  DGs,  such  as  Taxation  and  Customs, 
Statistics, Enterprise, and Health and Consumer Affairs.

38

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

The  bulk  of  the  members  of  Expert  Groups  are  national 
civil servants nominated by their ministry. The EU Register 
of  Expert  Group  membership  showed  that  in  2012  Expert 
Groups  had  more  than  700  Portuguese  participating  in 
deliberations  with  Commission  officials  about  policies 
(Figure 2.1). As long as Groups are constituted exclusively of 
national officials, then the EU norm of the equal representa-
tion of member states applies. There is little numerical differ-
ence between the 610 Portuguese officials and the 646 Italian 
and 677 German officials participating in Expert Groups or 
the 632 Austrian officials and the 602 Irish officials. 

Figure 2.1 Portuguese Members of Expert Groups

Individual experts 
 6% 

Stakeholders 
10% 

National officials 
84% 

In 2012 Expert Groups 
had more than 700 
Portuguese participating 
in deliberations with 
Commission officials 
about policies

Source: Compiled by the authors from EC register of Expert Groups

Expert Groups can have members who represent stakeholder 
interests without regard to nationality. Stakeholder interests 
include business associations, trade unions and agricultural 
associations. Typically, interest group representatives partic-
ipate  in  deliberations  about  the  single  European  market. 
One in ten Portuguese participating in Expert Groups does 
so  as  an  interested  stakeholder.  However,  representation 
of  interests  without  regard  to  nationality  favours  partici-
pation  by  individuals  from  the  most  populous  EU  states. 
For example, almost 11 percent are German and 9 percent 
British compared to 3.4 percent Portuguese, a small propor-

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

39

tion  but  large  in  proportion  to  the  country’s  share  of  the 
EU’s population. Insofar as business, trade union and civil 
society stakeholder organizations express sectoral interests 
found  in  many  countries,  Portuguese  economic  interests 
may be virtually represented by stakeholders based in other 
EU countries.

Paradoxically, Expert Groups have few members who sit as 
individuals by virtue of their specific expertise in the field 
in  which  EU  action  is  being  proposed.  Those  appointed 
because of their personal expertise constitute only 6 percent 
of  the  Portuguese  participants  (Figure  2.1).  Individual 
experts can come from any member state, and Portuguese 
experts on VAT as well as fisheries take part in EU consulta-
tions. Here too the population of a country makes a differ-
ence. Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy each contrib-
ute 10 percent of individual experts, whereas Portuguese are 
only 2.3 percent of that total. Having citizens participate as 
experts  confers  less  of  a  national  advantage  on  a  govern-
ment insofar as individual experts are cosmopolitan profes-
sionals in fields such as food biology or geriatrics, and have 
views reflecting a body of knowledge shared internationally 
by  professionals  in  their  field  (Haas,  1992).  When  I  asked 
a Portuguese economist how his work in Brussels differed 
from what he would do in Lisbon, the reply was, ‘It’s much 
the same. Once a monetary economist, always a monetary 
economist‘.

Seconded National Experts (SNEs). 

National  governments  are  also  able  to  nominate  a  select 
number  of  their  officials  to  serve  for  a  minimum  of  six 
months and a maximum of four years in a Commission DG 
or  similar  policy  post  to  gain  European  political  capital. 
Confusingly, they are known as Seconded National Experts 
(SNEs). This facility offers the Portuguese government the 
opportunity  to  create  a  cadre  of  mid-career  officials  who 
have an inside view of how EU institutions make policies. 
Their knowledge thus complements that of PERMREP offi-
cials who learn how intergovernmental institutions review 
what the Commission proposes. Seconded National Experts 
bring  their  European  political  capital  with  them  when 
returning to a ministry post in Lisbon.

40

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

To  become  an  SNE,  an  official  must  have  at  least  three 
years  of  experience  working  in  a  public  service  post  at  a 
level  equivalent  to  the  EC’s  administrative  grade  and  the 
endorsement of his or her national government. When very 
special skills are required, for example, in scientific research, 
recruits  may  come  from  other  institutions.  DGs  advertise 
the posts to which they want to appoint SNEs and look to 
the 28 PERMREPs Offices in Brussels to encourage candi-
dates. If a national official is seconded to the Commission, 
the  national  employer  continues  to  pay  the  appointee’s 
salary,  which  the  Commission  supplements  to  meet  extra 
costs of living temporarily in Brussels (http://ec.europa.eu/
civil_service/job/sne).

DGs  can  recruit  national  experts  on  a  short-term  basis  in 
order  to  gain  staff  with  specialist  knowledge  of  a  problem 
of concern to the DG. For example, following the eurozone 
crisis the Commission created a Support Group for Portugal 
to  monitor  compliance  with  EU  conditions  for  providing 
financial  aid.  It  advertised  a  one-year  post  for  a  seconded 
national expert familiar with both the Portuguese economy 
and the EU’s DG for Economic and Financial Affairs and the 
DG for Tax. Knowledge of Portuguese was described as an 
asset but not a requirement. Knowing how the Commission 
operates  was  the  greater  requirement.  The  staff  of  the 
European External Action Service (EEAS) was able to begin 
operation without the delays of recruiting all the personnel 
needed to staff it by having many mid-career national diplo-
mats seconded to it. In this way national governments could, 
in the words of a Portuguese minister of foreign affairs, be 
represented within it. In particular, the Portuguese govern-
ment expressed an interest that was given some recognition 
in  heading  EEAS  delegations  in  areas  of  Africa  and  Latin 
America with which its history gave it claims to expertise. 
However, the former Secretary of State for European Affairs, 
Pedro Lourtie, emphasized that he was not claiming to own 
these  posts  or  play  a  mathematical  game,  by  establishing 
quotas but to combine national and EU interests (as quoted 
by  Seabra,  2012:  38).  The  priority  given  to  supra-national 
commitments is illustrated by the career of a senior EC civil 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

41

servant,  João  Vale  de  Almeida,  being  the  Ambassador  in 
Washington of the European Union as a whole. 

Seconded  national  experts  work  on  problems  similar  to 
those  faced  by  their  national  ministry,  but  look  at  them 
from a multi-national perspective. Instead of having fellow 
citizens  as  colleagues,  they  are  continuously  engaged  with 
a  multi-national  mixture  of  colleagues  and  work  in  a 
foreign  language.  Insofar  as  seconded  staff  have  a  profes-
sional  expertise  that  is  independent  of  citizenship,  they 
can share this with others in their DG or the Commission. 
Direct contact is rare with the Council, where ministers of 
all national governments, including Portugal, meet. When 
SNEs  have  contact  with  national  officials,  they  usually 
represent other member states rather than Portugal. The EC 
also has rules designed to avoid putting seconded national 
officials  in  a  position  in  which  there  could  be  any  conflict 
of  interest  between  their  current  supra-national  obliga-
tions  and  their  long-term  national  career  (Trondal,  2010: 
67).  The  independence  of  seconded  officials  from  national 
considerations is confirmed by national officials who attend 
intergovernmental  committee  meetings  in  which  DG  staff 
participate (Egeberg et al., 2003: 34).

Like  permanent  Commission  officials,  the  main  task  of 
seconded national experts is to work on dossiers that are the 
responsibility of their particular unit within a DG. Instead 
of  an  abstract  idealistic  commitment  to  an  ever  closer 
Union, Four-fifths of SNEs surveyed by Trondal emphasized 
the importance of their DG’s position in making decisions 
about  the  content  of  a  dossier  (Figure  2.2).  Departmental 
priorities are not seen as European priorities but as interests 
distinctive from other DGs. Paradoxically, commitment to 
a particular DG makes people conscious of divisions at the 
highest levels of the European Union. In the words of one 
seconded expert, The level of conflict between DGs is higher 
than between ministries at home (Trondal, 2010: 69).

By working in Brussels, seconded Portuguese officials gain 
European  political  capital.  The  change  from  working  in  a 
national  ministry  to  a  multi-national  DG  quickly  social-
izes  officials  into  a  pragmatic  understanding  of  how  the 

42

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

European Commission works. Instead of viewing an issue 
in  terms  of  their  national  government,  SNEs  adopt  the 
perspective  of  their  DG  (Trondal,  2010:  71).  The  common 
basis for discussion within a multi-national group tends to 
be shared professional values rather than a vague European 
identity (cf. Trondal, 2010: 71). This is not so much a reflec-
tion of seconded officials being ideologically committed to 
an ever closer Union. It is a practical reflection of the need 
for officials to give priority to where they are currently sitting 
and maintain agreement with people they are sitting next to. 

Being  socialized  into  how  EU  institutions  work  does  not 
cause officials to lose their national political capital. Instead, 
people who are quick to adopt the novel methods of work-
ing in Brussels have demonstrated their ability to be quickly 
re-socialized when they return to work for the Portuguese 
government.  In  the  words  of  one  official  seconded  to 
Brussels, ‘I am loyal to the Commission, but at the end of 
the day my home organisation is my employer’. 

 Figure 2.2 Influences on Seconded National Experts

% citing 

100% 

81% 

80% 

60% 

40% 

20% 

0% 

52% 

52% 

Four-fifths of SNEs 
surveyed by Trondal 
emphasized the 
importance of their 
DG’s position in making 
decisions about the 
content of a dossier

15% 

DG 

Supranat'l 

Professional  Nat'l govts 

Source: Jarle Trondal, An Emergent European Executive Order. Oxford: 
Oxford University Press (2010), 69. 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

43

III

PORTUGUESE WORKING IN 
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Everyone who works in the European Parliament (EP) needs 
a large stock of political capital with a capital P, that is, knowl-
edge of politics at the EU level and knowledge of the politics 
of diverse countries that the MEPs they deal with represent. 
Whereas European Commission staff must understand the 
outlook of the national ministers who decide the fate of their 
proposals in Council, EP staff must understand the outlook 
of a multi-national and multi-party assembly of elected poli-
ticians. While the 751 MEPs are the most visible part of the 
Parliament, they are only one-eighth of the total number of 
people working in the European Parliament (Corbett et al., 
2011). The number of Portuguese working for the Parliament 
is 16 times greater than Portugal’s 22 MEPs. 

Even though the total number of MEPs is more than four 
times  that  of  the  Portuguese  Parliament,  there  is  a  much 
higher ratio of population to representative than is normal in 
member states. It is one MEP for every 665,000 Europeans. 
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have a unique 
status  in  the  European  Union.  They  are  party  politicians 
nationally elected for a fixed-term of five years rather than 
being  given  a  permanent  post  in  the  Commission  after 
engaging  in  a  multi-national  concours.  The  largest  group 
of  EP  staff  is  the  Secretariat,  a  multi-national  civil  service 
responsible  for  administering  the  EP’s  collective  work. 
Unlike  MEPs,  the  Secretariat  staff  hold  permanent  posts. 
Individual MEPs have the right to employ at least two staff 
to  assist  them  in  their  parliamentary  work  and  support 
them in their national constituency. The partisan staff work-
ing on limited-term contracts for EP Party Groups is larger 
than  the  total  number  of  MEPs.  Jobs  of  MEPs,  their  staff 
and their Party Group depend on the outcome of the quin-
quennial election of the European Parliament. Thus, there 
is a regular circulation in and out of the EP of people with 
a substantial amount of political capital that can be applied 
back home or in non-governmental organizations or politi-
cal lobbies in Brussels.

44

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Portugal comes sixth in 
the absolute number of 
staff employed in the EP.

Table 3.1 PORTUGUESE IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT STAFF

Belgium

France

Italy

Spain

Germany

PORTUGAL

Poland

GB

Greece

Finland

Romania

Hungary

Denmark

Netherlands

Bulgaria

Sweden

Czech Rep

Slovakia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Slovenia

Estonia

Ireland

Latvia

Non-EU

Malta

Austria

Cyprus

Total Staff

% / Thus

14.0

11.7

9.2

7.0

6.7

4.2

3.9

3.8

3.8

3.1

2.8

2.6

2.3

2.3

2.2

2.2

2.1

2.0

1.8

1.8

1.7

1.6

1.6

1.6

1.5

1.2

1.1

0.3

N

821

684

537

412

390

249

229

223

225

181

163

151

136

137

131

127

125

117

105

106

101

95

91

95

85

68

63

15

Source: European Parliament. Data for 2012.

Secretariat. The EP’s Secretariat is much larger than that of 
the national parliament of a member state. At the end of 2012 
the Secretariat had a career civil service of 6,694 individu-

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

45

als. Because MEPs come from 28 countries and work in two 
dozen different languages, linguists and translators account 
for  more  than  one-fifth  of  EP  employees.2  The  staff  has 
grown in size over the decades with the increased powers of 
the EU Parliament and the enlargement of the Union. When 
the first Parliament was directly elected in 1979 in an EU of 
nine  member  states,  there  were  1,995  employees.  By  1984, 
two years after Portugal joined, the EU had increased to 12 
member states and the Parliament’s staff to 2,966. Since then, 
the  number  of  member  states  has  more  than  doubled,  but 
the number of MEPs has increased by little more than half. 
Concurrently, the growing importance of the Parliament in 
the co-decision process of the EU and the expansion of EU 
powers has more than doubled the size of its staff. 

The division of EP staff by nationality reflects history, econom-
ics  and  politics.  The  three  most  numerous  nationalities  are 
from the six founder members of  the EU: Belgium, France, 
and  Italy  (Table  3.1).  Germany  is  much  under-represented, 
reflecting  the  attractive  level  of  salaries  and  employment 
opportunities within Germany. For a complementary reason, 
Spaniards are over-represented. Portugal comes sixth in the 
absolute number of staff employed in the EP. Discounting the 
exceptional  circumstances  of  Belgium,  it  ranks  first  among 
the not so populous EU member states. Moreover, notwith-
standing the United Kingdom having a population six times 
greater than Portugal, fewer British are EP staff. 

The  staff  of  the  European  Parliament  is  divided  into  two 
categories: 44 percent are administrators dealing with poli-
ticians and political issues while the majority are assistants 
providing  more  or  less  routine  services.  Portuguese  staff 
come seventh in the percentage of citizens who are in higher-
ranking administrative posts. In age, an important consid-
eration in a civil service system where seniority is relevant 
for promotion, the average Portuguese staff member is 50, 
placing it sixth among all nationalities; only one other early 
entrant to the EU has greater seniority. By contrast with the 
Commission, where a majority of Portuguese staff are men, 

2.  All statistics about EP staffing come from official European Parliament 

sources.

46

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

in the EP Portuguese women outnumber men by a ratio of 
three to two. This pre-eminence applies in the higher grades 
of the Administrative section as well as among assistants.

Low  turnover  among  civil  servants  makes  recruitment 
to  posts  in  the  European  Parliament  a  highly  competitive 
process in which only a fraction of 1 percent of applicants 
are  successful.  In  2012  a  total  of  57,080  people  applied  for 
a  post  in  the  European  Parliament.  In  keeping  with  the 
shortage of jobs for young graduates, 3,914 applicants were 
Portuguese,  more  than  three  times  its  share  of  the  EU’s 
population. The large number of Portuguese seeking a post 
helped the country to rank seventh among 28 countries in 
the number of successful applicants for EP posts, one notch 
above the United Kingdom. However, in quantitative terms 
this achievement is limited, since only 11 Portuguese gained 
posts, barely one-quarter of 1 percent of those who applied 
(Table 3.2). 

Table 3.2 Portuguese Recruited to EP Staff, 2012

 Total Recruits 

Belgium

France

Spain

Italy

Germany

Romania

PORTUGAL

GB

Other 19 
countries

N

34

25

22

21

17

17

11

10

70

% EU Pop’n

2.2

13.0

9.2

12.1

16.3

4.3

2.1

12.5

%

15.0

11.0

9.7

9.2

7.5

7.5

4.8

4.4

30.1

Source: European Parliament. Data for 2012.

Because  the  EP  requires  an  absolute  majority  of  MEPs  to 
endorse  legislation,  its  committees  have  MEPs  from  every 
member state. This results in EP staff mixing on a daily basis 
with an even wider range of nationalities than are normally 
found within a DG unit. It also means that Portuguese on 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

47

the staff of the EP will have limited contact with Portuguese 
MEPs.  Staff  who  service  the  policy  needs  of  specific  EP 
committees tend to give priority to subject-matter concerns 
and to the views of the Commission DG that produces inputs 
to the committee for which they work. They also must pay 
attention  to  balancing  the  partisan  concerns  of  the  major 
multi-national  Party  Groups  (cf.  Winzen,  2011).  When  a 
sample of EP career staff was asked to evaluate the weight 
given to the views of different groups, national governments 
came seventh on a list of nine (Egebert et al., 2012: Table 7).

The European Parliament annually offers five-month stagi-
aire (traineeship) posts to Europeans in their mid-20s who 
want to gain some experience of working in an EU institu-
tion.  Some  stagiaires,  for  example,  law  students  or  gradu-
ates,  translate  draft  legislative  proposals  and  documents 
from  French  or  English  into  legal  terms  in  their  national 
language.  In  doing  so  they  may  identify  ambiguities  or 
inconsistencies  in  the  application  of  EP  legislation  within 
different  national  legal  contexts.  Some  work  for  commit-
tees  where  there  is  an  emphasis  on  achieving  a  cross-party 
consensus. Others work for individual MPs, where they are 
immediately  asked  to  assist  in  all  sorts  of  tasks  that  make 
up a politician’s day, from finding information relevant to a 
pending  committee  meeting  to  making  a  restaurant  book-
ing  or  dealing  with  a  troubled  constituent.  Although  stagi-
aires arrive in Brussels inexperienced, their work and abilities 
enable them to acquire significant European political capital 
useful when subsequently seeking and settling into a career. 

The competition for EP stagiaire posts is fierce, and has been 
exacerbated by the difficulty that young graduates now face 
in finding employment. In 2012 there were 14,064 applicants 
for  619  posts.  In  2013  the  number  of  applicants  increased 
by  almost  half  to  20,352,  while  the  number  selected  for 
posts increased by only seven. In the first of these years the 
number  of  successful  Portuguese,  14,  was  almost  exactly 
in keeping with Portugal’s share of the EU’s population. In 
2013 the number of successful Portuguese increased signifi-
cantly to 22, but this was still only 3.2 percent of the total 
number of stagiaire recruits. 

48

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Figure 3.1 Staffing of EP Party Groups

Non-aligned 
24 

Freedom 
58 

United Left 
58 

Conservative 
78 

Greens 
85 

ALDE 
120 

People's 
Party 
343 

Socialist 
249 

Source: European Parliament. Data for 2012.

Party  Groups.  Seven  multi-national  Party  Groups  play  a 
crucial role in organizing the political work of the European 
Parliament  by  co-ordinating  activities  of  MEPs  shar-
ing  a  particular  political  tendance  but  representing  up  to 
28  different  national  constituencies.  About  one  thousand 
administrative  staff  and  assistants  are  employed  by  the 
Groups and paid by the Parliament. The size of each Group’s 
staff is arrived at by a complex formula that provides a mini-
mum for each Group and also takes into account how many 
MEPs  it  has  (Figure  3.1).  In  addition,  each  Group  usually 
has a number of permanent civil servants seconded to it to 
provide technical assistance and to give civil servants first 
hand experience of how Party Groups mobilize their influ-
ence in the EU’s co-decision process. Each Group is also free 
to recruit a small number of stagiaires. The People’s Party 
Group offers ten such positions for three months to young 
people  who  meet  its  selection  criteria,  renewable  once  for 
an additional three months. The Socialists offer 25 stagiaire 
posts for up to five months. 

The  bulk  of  each  Group’s  staff  are  not  permanent  civil 
servants  but  employed  on  contracts  of  an  indeterminate 
period. This condition recognises that the size of the Group, 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

49

and therefore its staff, can vary with each EP election and 
from time to time Groups split or merge. Staff are expected 
to be in sympathy with the Group’s political position. Up to a 
point recruitment is through the same process as jobs in the 
Secretariat and Commission: there are both written and oral 
tests, including knowledge of the main working languages 
of the Group. Choice of successful candidates is made by the 
Group rather than by the EP’s DG for Personnel, but they 
are normally paid by funds allocated in the EP budget. 

Portugal’s  22  MEPs  are  divided  among  four  Groups,  the 
European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, the 
Greens-Free  Alliance,  and  the  United  Left  (Trechsel  et  al., 
2013). Together, these four groups account for 72 percent of 
the total Group staff. However, since Portuguese MEPs are 
relatively few, collectively they contribute only 21 staff, 2.2 
percent of the total employed by EP Group. Since each Group 
has  MEPs  from  many  countries,  Portuguese  staff  work  in 
a  multi-national  Group  and  prepare  reports  in  French  or 
English  for  scrutiny  by  fellow  partisans  from  other  coun-
tries. In this way, Portuguese who have been accustomed to 
thinking of party politics in national terms are socialized to 
see the broader European implications of issues of left, right 
and green politics.

Each Group’s staff concentrates on topics on the EP’s current 
agenda  and  addresses  them  in  keeping  with  its  partisan 
outlook.  Staff  tasks  include  providing  briefs  for  members; 
publicity to be circulated through old and new media; and 
logistical  and  practical  support  for  the  Group’s  activities 
and its Bureau of leaders. Doing so not only requires skill 
in foreign languages but also skill in handling MEPs who, 
notwithstanding a common partisan outlook, differ in their 
political  priorities  and  individual  personalities  (Corbett  et 
al.,  2011:  chapter  3;  www/europarl.europa.eu  /aboutparlia-
ment). When asked to evaluate nine different influences on 
their views, Party Group staff ranked national governments 
fifth (Egeberg et al., 2012: Table 7). 

Staff of Portuguese MEPs. Each MEP can employ Accredited 
Parliamentary  Assistants  (APAs)  based  in  Brussels  and 
nationally based assistants to support their work at the EU 

50

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

level and to maintain links with the national constituency 
from  which  they  are  elected.  Given  individual  differences 
in the kind of help that MEPs want, hiring is at their discre-
tion. However, terms of employment are set by EP regula-
tions  and  each  MEP  receives  a  fixed  sum  to  employ  their 
assistants.  In  November,  2013  there  were  1,761  Accredited 
Assistants  working  in  the  offices  of  MEPs  in  Brussels,  an 
increase of 29 percent since 2009. A significant minority of 
MEPs  hire  assistants  of  different  nationalities  in  order  to 
facilitate liaising with multi-national colleagues. Portuguese 
MEPs employ a total of 66 APAs, an average of three per MEP. 

The  funds  that  the  Parliament  provides  individual  MEPs 
can also be used to hire assistants within their country. In 
Portugal, where MEPs are elected from a single nationwide 
constituency,  local  assistants  are  often  located  in  a  city  in 
which the MEP has established his or her political network, 
a network that can be personally useful when their term in 
the  EP  ends.  In  total  the  EP  finances  1645  local  assistants 
who are recruited by individual MEPs in the light of their 
particular priorities. 

Portuguese  MEPs  differ  in  the  staffing  arrangements  that 
they choose to make. On the one hand, Paulo Rangel reports 
five accredited staff working for him in his Brussels office. 
Edite  Estrela,  Joao  Ferreira,  Diogo  Feio  and  Joao  de  Melo 
each report four and de Melo also has a local assistant work-
ing in Portugal. On the other hand, six Portuguese MEPs do 
not report employing any staff to work solely for themselves 
and five list only local assistants. The accredited assistants 
hired  by  MEPs  are  almost  all  Portuguese.  This  increases 
their  usefulness  in  maintaining  links  with  the  national 
party  that  nominated  them  and  with  their  Portuguese 
constituents. However, it reduces their capacity to contrib-
ute  to  cross-national  networks  essential  in  building  coali-
tions of individuals to secure committee or Group endorse-
ment of a measure. 

All in all, the European Parliament gives its staff a distinc-
tive form of European Political Capital. They must under-
stand the significance of party political differences relevant 
at the EU level, a knowledge that Commission staff can only 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

51

Collectively, the 358 
Portuguese working 
in the European 
Parliament are almost 
as numerous as the 384 
Portuguese working 
at the policymaking 
level of the European 
Commission

acquire at second hand. Working in the Parliament makes 
individuals aware of the need for multi-national agreement, 
an  experience  shared  by  staff  in  the  PERMREP’s  Office. 
However, EP staff normally evaluate policies in terms of multi-
national  partisan  outlooks.  In  other  words,  a  Portuguese 
Socialist is expected to think of the interests of workers in all 
member states and not just one nation’s workers. 

Figure 3.2 Portuguese in EP Posts 

N Portuguese 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

0 

358 

249 

66 

22 

21 

    Total EP          Career           MEPS’           MEPS        Party Group 
                          Parliament       staff                                      staff 

Source: European Parliament.

Collectively,  the  358  Portuguese  working  in  the  European 
Parliament are almost as numerous as the 384 Portuguese 
level  of  the  European 
working  at  the  policymaking 
Commission  (Figure  3.2).  Both  categories  of  staff  work  in 
a  multi-national  environment  that  ensures  that  they  have 
European Political Capital. Whereas Commission staff are all 
civil servants, almost one-third of the EP’s staff are employed 
by  elected  politicians  and  are  expected  to  view  policies  in 
terms of partisan interests and question DG proposals that 
do not match the political line of the Party Group. 

52

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

The contribution that EP staff make to Portugal’s European 
Political Capital is multiplied by the fact that the duration 
of employment of about one hundred staff is only guaran-
teed  for  the  five-year  life  of  the  Parliament.  While  one  in 
twenty  staff  members  in  the  Secretariat  was  a  new  recruit 
in  2011,  up  to  one  in  five  accredited  parliament  assistants 
was  replacing  an  assistant  who  had  left  (C  164/16  Official 
Journal of the European Union 9.6.2012). In an election year 
about half of MEPs, including Portuguese, leave Parliament, 
forcing their staffs to find a new employer. Non-elected EP 
staff are youthful. Assistants of Party Groups and of MEPs 
have an average age of 32 and their indeterminate tenure is 
an incentive to look for a more secure job. Their European 
Political Capital is an asset in getting a job in which they can 
continue to make use of their capital in the interest of orga-
nizations  in  Portugal  or  elsewhere  in  Europe.  Their  youth 
means that they can do so for three decades or longer.

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

53

IV 

INCREASING PORTUGAL’S 
EUROPEAN POLITICAL 
CAPITAL

Portugal has demonstrated that it has the human resources 
to  be  competitive  in  winning  jobs  in  EU  institutions.  The 
preceding  chapters  have  shown  that,  in  relation  to  popu-
lation,  Portuguese  are  a  disproportionate  number  of  offi-
cials  in  the  European  Commission  and  have  a  dispropor-
tionate number of high-ranking positions (Figure 1.3) and 
the  PERMREP’s  Office  of  the  Portuguese  government  has 
diplomatic and domestic staff to monitor proposals from all 
of the EU’s Directorate Generals (Table 2.1). There are also 
hundreds of Portuguese officials and experts participating 
in  the  intergovernmental  committees  that  deal  with  tech-
nical  problems  of  implementing  EU  policies  (Figure  2.1). 
Furthermore,  Portuguese  hold  a  disproportionate  number 
of posts in the European Parliament (Table 3.1).

In a European Union of 500 million people and 28 member 
states,  Portuguese  will  always  be  a  small  portion  of  those 
holding jobs in its institutions. Moreover, structural changes 
in  the  EU  are  creating  pressures  to  reduce  the  number  of 
Portuguese working in EU institutions. Since Portugal joined 
the  EU,  enlargement  has  more  than  doubled  the  number 
of countries whose citizens can compete for EU posts and 
most  of  these  countries  have  labour  markets  making  EU 
posts  especially  attractive  to  their  talented  citizens.  When 
Portuguese in senior posts retire in the next decade, there 
will be more mid-career staff from new member states to fill 
their  posts  than  there  are  Portuguese  The  2008  economic 
crisis  has  not  only  encouraged  able  young  Portuguese  to 
look abroad for work but also young people in more popu-
lous high unemployment countries such as Spain and Italy. 
However, EU budget constraints threaten a reduction in the 
number of new recruits. To maintain its current presence in 
EU posts, Portuguese will have to do more. 

54

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Portugal  benefits  from  the  intergovernmental  principle  of 
the  equal  participation  of  all  member  states  in  the  many 
institutionalized  forms  of  deliberation  that  constitute  the 
EU’s  co-decision  process.  Practical  pressures  limit  the 
number  of  individuals  participating  in  committee  meet-
ings, thus putting a ceiling on representatives from the most 
populous states. Since decisions require agreement by larger 
and smaller member states, the quality of contributions by 
individuals, independently of nationality, can have a signifi-
cant  influence  on  whatever  consensus  emerges.  The  more 
European political capital an individual has, the higher the 
quality of their contributions.

Portugal’s pool of European political capital is not limited 
to posts held in EU institutions; it is a fungible asset. Once a 
person understands how the EU system works, this knowl-
edge  can  be  applied  in  an  increasing  number  of  contexts 
affected by Europeanisation (Ladrech, 2010). It can be used 
by national civil servants and party politicians whose work 
is affected by decisions taken at the EU as well as at national 
level. It can be used on behalf of private sector Portuguese 
enterprises affected by the Single Europe Market in which 
they  must  compete.  Portuguese  can  also  use  this  capital 
working for multi-national firms and as lobbyists for private 
sector  firms  or  civil  society  organisations  concerned  with 
EU policies. 

Increasing  the  pool  of  European  political  capital  does  not 
de-nationalize Portuguese. Instead, it adds to the capabili-
ties of individuals who are both Portuguese and European 
citizens. Acquiring European political capital requires indi-
vidual  motivation  and  effort  that  the  Portuguese  govern-
ment can promote through education, targeted support for 
citizens competing for European careers, and managing the 
careers of its existing civil servants. Many of these measures 
are  desirable  in  themselves,  because  they  enhance  the 
opportunities of younger people whose careers will become 
increasingly Europeanised before they retire in the second 
half of the twenty-first century.

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

55

Whereas most 
Europeans study English 
intensively as a foreign 
language, only two in 
five Portuguese do so 
at a level as high as the 
final stage of secondary 
education

Education for European political capital.

Education provides the foundation for developing European 
political  capital.  Whether  a  youth  is  a  brilliant  student  or 
president of the youth wing of a political party, an individual 
must be a high achiever, for there is fierce competition for 
jobs  in  Brussels.  Because  Portuguese  is  not  widely  spoken 
in European deliberations, knowledge of foreign languages 
is essential for a European career. While adults are near the 
EU average in claiming knowledge of one foreign language, 
Portuguese are well below the European average in claiming 
knowledge of two or more foreign languages (Table 1.1).

 Figure 4.1 Advanced Study of Major EU Languages

Studying 

100% 

80% 

60% 

40% 

20% 

0% 

(Portuguese pupils studying  at ISCED level 3) 

39% 

4% 

1% 

English 

French 

German 

Source: EUROSTAT, Luxembourg, 2012. “Foreign Language Learning 
Statistics”, in Statistics Explained.

Current Portuguese policy about teaching foreign languages 
is lagging behind other EU member states. Portugal appears 
well below the European average in the percentage of second-
ary school pupils studying a major European language at a 
high enough level for further study or work abroad (Figure 
4.1). Whereas most Europeans study English intensively as a 
foreign language, only two in five Portuguese do so at a level 
as  high  as  the  final  stage  of  secondary  education  and  less 
than  one  in  twenty-five  pursue  a  high  standard  of  French 
(Figure  4.1).  Achieving  a  high  standard  in  German,  the 
home  language  of  more  European  citizens  than  is  French, 

56

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

is almost completely abandoned by able Portuguese youths. 
The policy implication is clear:

5.  To  increase  European  political  capital,  the  Portuguese 
Ministry  of  Education  should  increase  the  percentage 
of  pupils  learning  two  major  European  languages  (e.g. 
English, French, German) to an advanced level. 

Given some knowledge of a foreign language, studying abroad 
creates  European  political  capital  in  two  complementary 
ways. It forces Portuguese to learn how to adapt to national 
institutions that differ from those they take for granted at 
home. In a foreign campus or café, young Portuguese will 
learn to engage with a multi-national group of people and 
begin to develop a personal network of European contacts. 
Both skills are necessary in order to work in EU institutions. 
Three-fifths of European Commission officials have studied 
abroad before subsequently going to work in Brussels. 

Figure  4.2  Portuguese  Students  Using  Erasmus  to  Go 

Abroad

All students: % 

4.0 

3.5 

3.0 

2.5 

2.0 

1.5 

1.0 

0.5 

0.0 

Portugal  Austria  Belgium  Greece  Czech  Hungary 

Source: Erasmus, Facts, Figures & Trends, 2012. Luxembourg: Eurostat.

Portuguese  students  are  above-average  in  their  readiness 
to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  that  the  Erasmus 
programme offers to study abroad (Figure 4.2). The number 
with  Erasmus placements in 2012 is one-fifth greater than 
would  be  expected  if  Portuguese  took  up  Erasmus  place-

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

57

ments  in  proportion  to  their  share  of  the  EU’s  population 
(Figure 4.2). The take up is also greater than countries such 
as Austria and Germany, where knowledge of two additional 
languages is greater than in Portugal. There has been a steady 
increase in the number of Portuguese students making use 
of Erasmus opportunities to study abroad. In 2000 almost 
2600 went abroad for an average of one semester; by 2011 the 
number  had  doubled  (www.ec.europa/education/erasmus/
stats/doc/1011/countries). 

The  countries  that  attract  the  most  Portuguese  Erasmus 
students appear to do so on the grounds of cultural proxim-
ity or cost. Spain and Italy, each a large and Mediterranean 
EU  member,  rank  first  and  second.  The  third  and  fourth 
most  popular  countries,  Poland  and  the  Czech  Republic, 
appear to attract students by being relatively cheap in terms 
of the cost of living and offering courses in English rather 
than requiring knowledge of a Slavic language. In the 2011-
12  academic  year,  Germany  was  the  fifth  most  popular 
country; the number of students going there was less than 
half that going to Poland. In the two preceding years, France 
had ranked fifth but the number of Portuguese going there 
was  less  than  one-quarter  that  going  to  Spain.  Given  the 
financial  barriers  to  Portuguese  going  to  major  Northern 
European countries: 

6.  To  increase  knowledge  of  British,  German  and  French 
society, the Portuguese Ministry of Education should offer 
competitive grants to supplement Erasmus awards in order 
to  encourage  more  Portuguese  students  to  study  in  high 
value, high cost European countries. 

Competing for EU posts. 

The disproportionate number of Portuguese currently hold-
ing  senior  posts  in  EU  institutions  means  that  there  will 
be a significant drop in the number in high-ranking posi-
tions as those now there begin to retire in the coming years. 
Concurrently, the enlargement of the European Union has 
increased competition for entry and lowered the proportion 
of Portuguese at a level to be promoted to senior posts in the 
next decade.

58

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

In order to maintain the presence of Portuguese in EU insti-
tutions,  the  government  needs  to  take  active  measures  to 
help able young graduates to compete for posts, above and 
beyond the information and guidance that EPSOS offers to 
EU  citizens  of  all  nationalities.  Education  bursaries  could 
underwrite competitive scholarships to study EU affairs at 
cosmopolitan  institutions  abroad  and  for  those  otherwise 
very well qualified, to gain a high standard of competence in 
two major European foreign languages. Experience in work-
ing in Brussels could be given by creating posts as stagiaires 
in  Portugal’s  PERMREP  Office.  Portuguese  organizations 
could be offered subsidies to employ able young persons as 
interns working on EU policy issues. The practical experi-
ence of working with other people on a problem of common 
concern and in a foreign language builds European political 
capital that is necessary for success in the final assessment 
deciding who does and who does not get an EU post. 

7.  To assist young Portuguese wanting to compete for an EU 
job  in  the  concours,  the  Portuguese  government  should 
offer  special-purpose  grants  to  raise  language  skills  and 
give practical experience of working on European problems 
with Portuguese institutions. 

The very competitive nature of EU recruitment is such that 
most Portuguese who compete in the concours will not be 
offered an EU job. Yet the ‘near misses’, that is, Portuguese 
who are selected for the final round of assessments, are not 
failures. They still have the European political capital that 
brought them so close to a permanent supra-national career. 
This  is  an  asset  to  themselves  and  to  society,  and  should 
not  be  wasted.  The  finalists  who  are  not  offered  posts  are 
three  times  as  numerous  as  Portuguese  succeeding  in  the 
concours. Moreover, having lost the chance of working for 
a supra-national European organization, they are now free 
to  use  their  political  capital  in  working  for  a  Portuguese 
institution. 

Finalists who have just missed a post and want to take the 
concours a second time could be offered grants to improve 
their  chances  of  success.  Funding  could  be  made  avail-
able  for  temporary  posts  in  Portuguese  universities  as  a 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

59

researcher  or  temporary  lecturer,  where  their  knowledge 
could be used while looking for a longer-term career. Some 
finalists will already have a job that offers a career that can 
make use of their European capital. To avoid the unemploy-
ment of people who have a high degree of European knowl-
edge, a Portuguese employer could be offered a subsidy to 
create a post for a year that could utilize their skill. The EU 
is not the only supra-national source of good jobs. The UN 
and its agencies, the World Bank, and dozens of other orga-
nizations  to  which  Portugal  belongs  recruit  staff  without 
regard to nationality. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the 
Portuguese  government  promotes  a  website  that  annually 
lists up to 4,000 posts in international organisations and in 
a  twelve-month  period  has  about  600,000  visits  (see  www.
carreirasinternacionais.eu)  by  many  applicants,  since  the 
citizens eligible to apply are much more numerous.

8.  To encourage able Portuguese to have a career that makes 
use  of  their  European  political  capital,  the  government 
should  offer  special  purpose  short-term  grants  to  those 
who  have  sought  but  fallen  short  of  getting  a  permanent 
EU post.

Work for MEPs or Party Groups in the European Parliament 
is  in  the  national  as  well  as  the  European  interest,  since 
people  are  employed  by  politicians  endorsed  by  a  bloc  of 
Portuguese  voters.  Since  these  jobs  are  vulnerable  to  the 
vagaries  of  election  results,  those  holding  them  are  float-
ing fish in the pool of European political capital. They are 
also  a  fungible  asset  to  Portuguese  society.  The  European 
Parliament  already  finances  a  few  posts  to  support  the 
offices of Portuguese MEPs in Brussels and in Portugal and 
an EP office in Lisbon. The Portuguese government could, 
in consultation with national parties having representatives 
in  the  European  Parliament,  supplement  this  by  funding 
short-term  stagiaire  posts  to  work  with  Portuguese  MEPs 
in  Brussels  and  contributing  to  the  cost  of  maintaining 
easy access offices in Portuguese cities and regions beyond 
Lisbon.  The  fact  that  the  posts  would  be  filled  by  apply-
ing partisan as well as educational criteria would help give 
European political capital to Portuguese who are engaged in 
the political process but who lack a university degree.

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HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

Manpower planning for civil servants. 

Whereas  making  use  of  European  educational  opportuni-
ties  and  competing  successfully  for  jobs  in  Brussels  is  in 
the hands of individuals, the Portuguese government has a 
major influence on the careers of its civil servants. It deter-
mines  the  criteria  for  recruiting  civil  servants;  the  experi-
ence  that  they  gain  by  circulating  between  posts  in  the 
course of their career; and it takes decisions about the skills 
and experience required to secure promotion to high-level 
positions in government. 

The European Union recruits civil servants on the basis of 
their  level  of  general  intelligence,  specific  knowledge  and 
skills, and ability to work with others in a group. These skills 
are  very  useful  to  work  as  a  national  civil  servant  as  well. 
The great majority of higher-level Portuguese civil servants 
should  already  have  these  skills,  but  however  great  their 
stock of national political capital (and it may be greater than 
that of many MPs), this does not ensure that they also have 
European political capital. To work in the ever closer Union 
that is increasing the interlocking responsibilities of Lisbon 
and Brussels requires more than a high level of general intel-
ligence  or  the  ability  to  pass  a  written  examination  in  the 
law  and  institutions  of  the  European  Union.  It  first  of  all 
requires a good knowledge of English and French, the EU’s 
working languages. It also requires the ability to work with 
a wide variety of nationalities in these languages, since there 
are many contexts in which the majority of people discuss-
ing an issue in Brussels are speaking in EFL (English as a 
Foreign  Language;  see  Rose,  2008).  When  reviewing  the 
qualifications  of  applicants  for  higher  level  posts,  extra 
credit can be given to those applicants showing evidence of 
having one or both of these qualities.

9.  To  increase  the  pool  of  Portuguese  civil  servants  with 
European as well as national political capital, more weight 
should  be  given  in  recruiting  staff  to  knowledge  of  EU 
working languages and experience of studying or working 
abroad. 

An  additional  way  to  increase  the  pool  of  European  capi-
tal  within  Portuguese  government  would  be  to  recruit 

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

61

more people who have already established a career outside 
government. This could start by offering fast-track entry to 
the  domestic  civil  service  to  finalists  in  the  concours  who 
have  just  missed  gaining  a  permanent  supranational  post 
in Brussels. This recognises that people who are in the 98th 
or 99th percentile of applicants for a Brussels job (see Figure 
1.3) are talented people and, by virtue of being in their 30s, 
have  had  relevant  European  experience  that  Portuguese 
entering the domestic civil service are not so likely to have. 
Portuguese  who  have  worked  abroad  for  several  years  in 
private  enterprise,  non-governmental  organisations  or 
academic  positions,  have  accumulated  political  capital 
relevant to the challenges facing national government in a 
multi-level (and polyhedral) world (see Rose, 2013: chapter 
8). Those who meet the general requirements for entry can 
be given extra credit for experience relevant to dealing with 
governments outside as well as within Portugal. 

10.  To increase trans-national capabilities of Portuguese civil 
servants, fast-track recruitment should be developed that 
takes into account the value of people having already spent 
time working abroad.

Those  who  rise  in  their  jobs  in  the  civil  service  without 
European political capital should be encouraged to acquire 
some. Ministries could make more use of the knowledge of 
officials who have worked in Brussels by asking those with 
European  political  capital  to  give  talks  or  participate  in 
training seminars for junior staff so they could gain vicari-
ous  experience  of  the  EU  policy  process.  Civil  servants  in 
post  who  have  gaps  in  their  European  knowledge  can  be 
assigned to a Portuguese embassy in London, Paris, Berlin 
or  elsewhere.  This  would  not  only  upgrade  linguistic  skill 
but also political awareness of how policies taken for granted 
in Portugal look to other Europeans. 

11. Able civil servants already in post should be given experi-
ence in working in multi-national settings by assignments 
to  Portuguese  embassies  abroad  or  secondment  to  jobs 
abroad working for Portuguese organisations. 

Since Portugal already has a core of officials with European 
political  capital,  the  above  recommendations  imply  incre-

62

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER

mentally  increasing  the  pool  available  to  the  Portuguese 
government  and  Portuguese  society.  In  any  one  year  the 
cost of doing so is limited by the numbers involved. Some 
points raised, such as the criteria for choosing recruits for 
established  posts,  do  not  involve  any  additional  expendi-
ture. The current fiscal squeeze on the Portuguese govern-
ment requires special justification for any new expenditure. 
Adding  a  corollary  to  the  familiar  saying  ‘Knowledge  is 
power’ provides such a justification: ‘If you think education 
for dealing with European affairs is expensive, compare it to 
the cost of ignorance’.

HOW SIZE MATTERS: PORTUGAL AS AN EU MEMBER  

63

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DOI 10.2870/21174
QM-05-14-006-EN-N
ISBN 978-92-9084-226-2