An Impossible Job? The Presidents of the European Commission, 1958-2014

It was, we are told, Roy Jenkins (known to his critics as Roi Jean Quinze) who described the Presidency of the European Commission as an “impossible job”, by which he meant , in effect, that its powers were insufficient to allow the President to discharge his responsibilities. How the various incumbents have attempted to reconcile this dilemma is a recurrent theme of this useful book, by 16 authors of 8 nationalities, which aims to provide short accounts of the European careers of the 11 Presidents from 1958 to 2014 in a manner suitable for the general reader. It is not...