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"The transformations of the EU administration in the context of economic crisis present a mixed picture breaking with the common representations of an administration in charge or, conversely, victim of austerity policies. The process of review the statutes running from 2010 to 2013 included real economy measures. The wonclusion of the review has long remained uncertain even though it was less radical than the protagonists’ proposals. At another level, the position of the agents and the services, whose skill is based on economic and financial expertise, has been strengthened by general economic conditions. Tackling successively these two points, this paper suggests an analysis of the effects of the economic crisis on public administrations, insisting on competition at stake within the EU administration and on its consequences as regard with legitimation and delegitimation of its agents. Pointing at the importance of historical continuity and of socio-political variables, the article advances the hypothesis that the economic crisis is only a segment of longer term transformations which stake consists in challenging the relative autonomy and the balances between spender and financial sectors of the administration."