EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella’s chief of staff Jeurgen Mueller compensates for his boss’s “weaknesses”, according to Politico Europe.
The influential news organisation drew up a post-Brexit EU Commission power matrix to establish who the best performers are.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was deemed to be the most powerful person in the Commission while the UK’s Commissioner designate Julian King was said to be in the weakest position.
Mr Vella, who is responsible for fisheries and the environment, was one of three commissioners who Politico identified as being outperformed by their chiefs of staff.
Apart from the Maltese commissioner, Politico identified the top aides for the Austrian and German commissioners as compensating for the “weaknesses” of their bosses.
A commissioner’s chief of staff plays an essential role in a commissioner’s effectiveness. Politico said that some chiefs of staff play the game better than others.
Commission President Juncker is said to focus almost exclusively on migration, Greece and Brexit, while his chief of staff Martin Selmayr is practically in control of dozens of policies.
While Mr Vella’s chief of staff outperforms him, Politico says that many other top aides are less effective.
The newspaper reports that it is always the same “six or seven” chiefs of staff who take the floor during their weekly meetings.
Demonstrable ability to cover for their bosses’ weaknesses was one of the key criteria to assess chiefs of staff, along with respect from peers, their relationship with Mr Juncker and his team and their ability to get a positive results for their commissioner on a blocked or controversial policy file.
Politico’s power matrix portrays 12 commissioners, including Mr Vella, as being less powerful than Mr Selmayr.
The criteria used to assess the commissioners included the extent of the powers given to them by EU law, the size and flexibility of the budgets they control, legislative achievements, access to Mr Juncker, Mr Selmayr and the wider presidential team, how they are regarded outside of the commission and the level of influence in their political party groups.
Mr Vella was nominated to the commission in 2014. Concerns had been raised about his lack of environmental credentials though Mr Vella managed to survive a grilling by MEPs relatively unscathed.
His original chief of staff Patrick Costello resigned last November after having served Mr Vella for less than 10 months.