The European Commission

The European Commission is the name of the executive body that governs the EU (European Eunion). This body is in charge of suggesting legislations and laws, implementing them and also upholding the treaties and managing the continual runnings of the EU.

This Commission works as a ‘cabinet government’ and has 27 commissioners. This includes of course one commissioner per each member state. This allows them to put forward the views of each of their own countries and to protect the interests of their homeland. However it is intended that the members of the European Commission look out to protect the best interests of the European Union more than the best interests of just the home state. Among these 27 commissioners of the European Comission is one president who gets appointed by the council. At the time of writing this president is Portugese José Manuel Durão  Barroso who has served since November 2004 and is the 11^th president. Previously he served as Prime Minister of Portugal.

Following the election of the president, the council further elects 26 Commissioners in accordance with the wishes of the president. The body of 27 including the president is then subjected to a vote by the European Parliament who need to approve the commission. The current commissino, referred to simply as the ‘Barroso Commissino’ is will continue to serve until 2014 at which point a new president and 26 new commissioners will be selected.

However the term European Commission can be used either to refer to the body of commissioners, or it can be used to refer to include the larger group incorporating the European civil servants. Of these there are roughly 25,000 who serve the European Union but who are largely employed by the European Commission. While the European Commission will help to pass and propose new legislations etc, it is this civil service that implements them. This larger group then, sometimes referred to as the European Commission, is responsible for both creating and implementing policies. Interestingly the European civil servants are recruited via competitions which as set by the EPSO (The European Personnel Selection Office). They are then further split into departments – Directorates General – or ‘DGs’ which cover various policy members.

The Europe Commission

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