4.3.1. The DG for Transport and Energy (DG TREN): one becomes two

Need for change

The split of DG TREN into two DGs (DG MOVE for mobility and transport issues, DG ENER for energy issues) in early 2010 was partly a response to external change. Global changes (such as the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis in 2009 affecting the EU) made energy issues more prominent. Moreover, new themes linked to environment and climate change, such as renewable energies emerged. More important for the reorganisation were internal drivers for change, namely the arrival of a new Commission with a larger number of Commissioners in 2010 which created new priorities and reshuffled the Commission portfolio. As a result, it was decided to upgrade the energy function and turn it into a separate DG.

Staffing and structure

The split of a relatively large DG with 11 Directorates created two middle-sized DGs: DG MOVE with a total of 400 staff in Brussels and DG ENER with a total of 570 staff (out of which about 300 are based in Luxemburg). Even after the split, both DGs share administrative support services, with about 260 staff in Brussels.

Objectives

• allow for a stronger specialisation in each of the fields and a more policyoriented approach in each DG
• respond to new policy priorities in the field of energy, notably links to climate change and environment
• maintain a Shared Resource Directorate in order to save resources.

Management of change

The reorganisation had been prepared over a long period of almost two years by the Director General of former DG TREN who then stayed on as Director General of DG MOVE.

A participatory approach was used to discuss the orientation and content of the change with middle management and staff.

In 2010, a new Director General arrived in to prepare the creation of DG ENER and to shape a new corporate culture for this DG. Both Directors General established a culture of regular cooperation to carry out the reorganisation. On request of the Commission, an ex-ante analysis was prepared which covered, among others, guiding principles of the reorganisation, a proposal for the Shared Resource Directorate and ways how to deal with staff.

For the human resource aspects of the reorganisation, several measures were taken:

• establishment of a Chambre d`Ecoute to listen to staff;
• individual requests of staff were taken into account but subordinate to the interest of the service;
• establishment of a high-level Taskforce composed of four Director Generals, who prepared the split, including the Shared Resource Directorate, identified the posts to be moved, and pre-identified staff; 3 to 4 meetings with a final report;
• information and communication were considered as “rights” of staff.

Resistance to change

The reorganisation was adopted in early 2010 before the current context of resource reduction and was resource neutral. No particular staff cuts were foreseen. Overall, the change process went relatively smoothly, with no particular resistance.

Specificities

The Shared Resource Directorate was established against the background of zero growth. The objective was to manage human and financial resources, support communication, and provide information and communication technology for both DGs. While most of these functions are standardised, the human resources function is more specific to each DG and does not lend itself easily to pooling. Providing services to two DGs required a good understanding among the Directors General and a consensual way of working, which was the case.

Beyond this reorganisation of DG TREN, the concept of pooling resources was also extended to other reorganisations. A report prepared in 2011, identified several risks:

• no sense of belonging, lack of corporate identity as shared services work for several DGs;
• insufficient commitment, demotivation, staff turnover, and recruitment difficulties;
• need to reconcile economies of scale with increases in workload (for instance higher need for coordination, meetings with several DGs, several reporting and planning exercises, multiple communication efforts with separate websites, newsletters).