Paper long abstract:

The Enlargement of the EU has brought along substantial institutional, social and cultural changes within the European Commission. Giving a historical background of the development of the EU Commission and drawing on examples from my field, I will show on one hand the prevailing "European" ideology and the transnational character of this institution. On the other hand I will show the relevant symbolical resources employed by the Commission's civil servants' in the struggle over what is defined as "European" and "national". These struggles, as I will show, demand from Polish nationals' flexible agency and the ability to constant negotiation and re-production of "eastern" and "western" identities within the frames set out by the "European" ideology. The main capitals in the struggle over the "national" and the "European" are: the ability to define ("national") interests in "European" context, the ability to draw back on social networks, social distinction and "tacit knowledge".