The Presidents of the European Commission: Transactional or Transforming Leaders?

This article analyzes the leadership of three C ommission P residents: J acques D elors, J acques S anter and R omano P rodi. It questions whether these P residents performed as transactional or transforming leaders – that is, whether they ‘mattered’ as forceful promoters of the E uropean project. Drawing on leadership theory, the article identifies three factors providing opportunities and setting constraints, as decisive for exercising political leadership: the institutional setting, the situational context and the personal qualities of the office holders. It analyzes to what extent these factors, and the interplay among them, shape the leadership of the C ommission P residents, and which of these factors are conditional for the exercise of transforming leadership. It concludes that only D elors was able to act as a transforming leader, whereas S anter and P rodi mainly performed as transactional leaders. These differences are explained by variations in the situational context and the personal qualities of the incumbents and the interplay between all three factors determining political leadership.