This article investigates the European Commission under the Presidency of Jean‐Claude Juncker during a time of acute crisis in the European Union. It asks what it means for Juncker to preside over a ‘political Commission’, following his appointment as the so‐called Spitzenkandidat of the centre‐right after the 2014 EP European Parliament election. More generally, it considers what makes the Juncker Commission distinctive. We ask whether Juncker views his EP mandate as giving him licence to head a Commission that is more ambitious than those headed by his predecessor, José Manuel Barroso. We provide empirical raw material for theorizing about the EU, particularly given the prominence of the new intergovernmentalism as a theoretical paradigm of European integration. We argue that it is time to redefine the term ‘intergovernmental’, especially given how the Commission has become more directly linked to and dependent on EU national capitals in a time of acute crisis.