Politicizations by ‘UK’ European commissioners during exit referenda: The impact of institutionalized roles

In keeping with constructivist theories of politics, this article is centred upon how European Commissioners have intervened publicly to either politicize issues related to European integration by invoking values and principles or, on the contrary, depoliticized them through discourse couched in terms of ‘necessity’, ‘efficiency’ or ‘technical feasibility’. Empirically, data is presented to compare how British commissioners have made speeches about the European Union ‘at home’ during periods around referenda regarding adhesion. This study finds that in debates leading up to the Brexit vote, the UK’s most recent commissioner clearly politicized the EU much less than his predecessors during the equivalent campaign in 1975. It argues, however, that explanation of this shift does not lie simply in contextual variables such as a changed EU or British Party Politics. It also stems from deep changes in the institutionalized role of a commissioner that have occurred since the fall of the Santer college in 1999.