Images of Europe: Orientations to European integration among senior officials of the commission

The European Union is a polity in the making, where political actors conten d about basic questions of governance. While students have begun to map con tention between public parties and private interests, little attention has been paid to how office-holders in the Commission conceive of European inte gration. Using interview data collected from 140 senior officials of the Co mmission, I identify contention along four dimensions: whether the EU shoul d have supranational or intergovernmental institutions; whether it should u se democratic or technocratic decision making; whether it should promote re gulated capitalism or marker liberalism; and whether the elite should defen d the European public good or be responsive to various interests. My findin gs challenge EU theories that conceive of the Commission as a unitary actor with a pro-integration agenda.