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Discussions of the role European Commissioners play in European Union politics are shaped by three powerful implicit assumptions. These posit a causal relationship between a Commissioner's behaviour and previous career, portfolio and national origin. In addition, Commissioners are seen as exacerbating the fragmentation of the European Commission as a whole. Based on an empirical study of eight Commissioners from the Delors II and the Santer colleges, this article challenges or reformulates these assumptions. In so doing, it also shows that sociologies of actors such as European Commissioners ‘matter’ to the study of politics in the European Union.