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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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European Commission

To understand European commission, you will first have to know about the European Union, universally recognized as the E.U. It is the political and monetary hub of twenty seven European nations including Austria, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom, Romania and Bulgaria.

The European Union has four functional bodies- the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice. Each body has its set of functions and responsibilities to look up to. The European Commission, an integral part of E.U, is the chief executive body of the European Union. Its main responsibility is to ensure that all the E.U treaties are accomplished successfully. European commission is also accountable for managing the E.U policies. It is the guiding force to the European Union. This body is mainly responsible for the practical implementation of all the legislative decisions and treaties. It is supposed to represent the European Union on an international platform. All the negotiation tasks are performed by the European Commission. The European commission is also known as the legislative motor for the European Union. The European commission members are called commissioners. All the members are nominated for a term of five years for the office. The United Kingdom usually appoints one person from the elected government and the other from the opposition party. European Commission has a president to control the working of the commission. He is elected by all the governments of the member states. The president has a team of two vice presidents. Presently, the European Commission is placed in Brussels. The president is supposed to act according to the rules of the European Union. All the commissioners are answerable to the president and the president is answerable to the E.U.

The European Commission also appoints Directorates-Generals or the DGs. Every DG has a particular matter to take care of. This office can be compared to the British government office. The European Commission is also responsible for administering the E.U. funds. All the investigation is also carried out by the European Commission. The European Union came into existence with the Treaty of Paris in 1951 which resulted in the formation of the European Commission with the Merger Treaty in 1965. At present, the European commission consists of a total of twenty members.

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