The President will be supported by the Secretariat-General, the Legal Service, the Directorate-General for Communication, including the Spokesperson’s Service, and I.D.E.A. The President will establish specific working arrangements with her Presidential services.
The President will establish a close relationship with the Directors-General, who represent the excellence of the European Commission administration. She will meet them collectively at least twice a year. She will keep them informed about the political priorities she intends to pursue and make use of their expertise.
In their coordination tasks, Executive Vice-Presidents, the High Representative/VicePresident and Vice-Presidents will be supported by the Secretariat-General, in accordance with the specific working arrangements drawn by the President. In the President’s Cabinet and in the Secretariat-General, there will be dedicated contact points for each Executive VicePresident and Vice-President.
Executive Vice-Presidents and Commissioners will have services reporting directly to them. Executive Vice-Presidents and Commissioners assume full political responsibility for the work done by the services that report to them.
As a rule, a weekly ‘Jour Fixe’ meeting between an Executive Vice-President or a Commissioner and the senior management of the services that report to him/her should be organised to ensure that policy planning and implementation are always steered by the political level. This weekly ‘Jour Fixe’ should include a weekly update on interinstitutional and external relations issues, and on all acts prepared or under preparation by the relevant service including the identification of their political sensitivity and/or importance from the planning stage in line with the established working arrangements. This should also allow for an early warning of the collegial preparatory bodies, and of the College, where appropriate.
In addition to the weekly Jour Fixe above, a strategic ‘Jour Fixe’ should be organised monthly, bringing together the relevant Executive Vice-President or Vice-President and a Commissioner and the senior management of the services that report to him/her. Such meetings will be based on an agenda proposed by the relevant Executive Vice-President or Vice-President and will cover strategic political, interinstitutional and external relations questions. The Secretariat-General and the President’s Cabinet shall be present at these strategic ‘Jour Fixes’. The Secretariat-General will be in charge of coordinating and preparing these meetings.
The principles governing the relations between Executive Vice-Presidents, the High Representative/Vice-President or Commissioners, their Cabinets and the services that report to them are set out in Annex 2, which also includes a template for the working arrangements to be concluded between Commissioners and the services that report to them.
Executive Vice-Presidents, the High Representative/Vice-President and Vice-Presidents should establish working arrangements with Commissioners which work under their guidance, for good cooperation and access to information. These working arrangements shall be shared with the Secretariat-General and the President’s Cabinet.
The President’s Cabinet and the Secretariat-General will be the guardians of fairness, objectivity and efficiency in the relationship between Executive Vice-Presidents, the High Representative/Vice-President, Vice-Presidents and Commissioners.
