04/12/2025
While headlines focus on Brussels’ new wave of deregulation, a deeper – and far more consequential – shift is happening inside the EU’s own institutions. In his latest EUObserver column, Professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby, warns that the Commission is undergoing a silent “Dogeization”: a systematic hollowing-out of its administrative capacity and political autonomy.
From austerity-driven staffing reforms to a radical new “Large Scale Review” that could end lifelong civil-service status, the Commission is being reshaped into a leaner, more temporary, and more politically compliant body. At stake is nothing less than the EU’s ability to act independently of national governments and to defend the European common interest at a moment of global instability.
As Europe faces external threats and internal fragmentation, dismantling the only supranational institution capable of articulating a shared vision risks turning the Union into little more than an intergovernmental marketplace.
What does this institutional downsizing really mean for Europe’s future?
Why does it matter for democracy, talent, and Europe’s strategic autonomy?
Read Prof Alemanno’s full analysis on EUObserver to understand why the Commission’s internal transformation could shape – or shrink – the future of the European project.