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European
Union Commission
The
European Commission (formally the Commission of
the European Communities) is the executive body of the
European Union. Alongside the European Parliament and the
Council of the European Union, it is one of the three main
institutions governing the Union.
Its primary roles are to propose and implement
legislation, and to act as 'guardian of the treaties'
which provide the legal basis for the EU. The role of the
European Commission has many parallels with the executive
body of a national government, but also differences (see
below for details). The
Commission consists of 25 Commissioners, one from each
member state of the EU, supported by an administrative
body of several thousand European civil servants divided
into departments called Directorate-General. The term "the
Commission" is generally used to refer both to the
administrative body in its entirety, and to the team of
Commissioners who lead it.
Unlike the Council of the European Union, the Commission
is intended to be a body independent of member states.
Commissioners are therefore not permitted to take
instructions from the government of the country that
appointed them, but are supposed to represent the
interests of the citizens of the EU as a whole.
The Commission is headed by a
President
(currently
José Manuel
Durão Barroso). Its headquarters
are located in
Brussels
and its
working languages are
English,
French
and
German. |
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Responsibilities of The Commission
The
Commission differs from other institutions in the EU
system through its power of initiative. This means
that only the Commission has the authority to initiate
legislation in the areas known as the "first pillar".
However, the Council of the European Union and the
European Parliament are both able to formally request that
the Commission legislate on a particular topic. In the
areas that fall within the "second pillar" (foreign policy
and defence) and "third pillar" (criminal law), the
Commission shares the power of initiating legislation with
the European Council. The
Commission also takes the role of guardian of the
treaties, which includes taking responsibility for
initiating infringement proceedings at the European Court
of Justice against member states and others who it
considers to have breached the EU treaties and other
community law.The Commission
negotiates international
trade
agreements (in the
World Trade
Organization) and other
international agreements on behalf of the EU. It closely
co-operates in this with the
Council of the
European Union.
The Commission is responsible for
adopting technical measures to implement legislation
adopted by the Council and, in most cases, the Parliament.
This legislation is subject to the approval of committees
made up of representatives of member states. This process
is sometimes known by the jargon term of
cosmetology.
The Commission also
regulates
competition in the Union,
vetting all mergers with Community-wide effects and
initiating proceedings against companies which violate EU
competition laws. |
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Criticism of The Commission
Many
eurosceptics
argue that the European Commission, its appointment and
powers exemplify the alleged democratic deficit in the
European Union.The European
Commission is led by Commissioners who are proposed by
national governments and approved by the European
Parliament, rather than being directly elected by
citizens. Although the Commission has no legislative
power, it is essentially the executive of the European
Union and is the only body empowered to draft legislative
proposals. Many eurosceptics argue that Commissioners
wield more power than is justified by their limited
democratic mandate. Furthermore, detractors say that they
are sometimes politicians who have failed in their native
countries and have been "pensioned off" to the Commission,
and that they have little control over the thousands of
bureaucrats who are regarded as a self-perpetuating
oligarchy.
Furthermore, specific recent actions
of the Commission have been heavily criticised by
eurosceptics. For instance, although the proposed
European
constitution has been abandoned
following the
French
and Dutch
"no" votes, there has been controversy over the
Commission's decision to continue with several initiatives
for which it is argued that only the Constitution would
have provided a legal basis. These allegedly include the
proposed
European Defence Agency,
External Borders
Agency,
Human Rights
Institute, the
Charter of
Fundamental Rights, the
European Public
Prosecutor, politico-military
structures, a collective security clause, a diplomatic
service and even a space policy.
The Commission has also been
criticised over its proposal for a
European
Political Parties Directive,
which seeks to provide state funding for Europe-wide
political parties. This has been seen by some as an
attempt to put
eurosceptic
parties, which arguably would not meet the funding
criteria, at a financial disadvantage. Some eurosceptic
commentators see this as an attempt by the European
Commission to further its own views and quieten dissenters
who might challenge them. |
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President and Commissioners
The
President of the Commission is chosen by the European
Council, but the choice must be approved by the European
Parliament. The remaining Commissioners are appointed by
the member states in agreement with the President, who
must decide the role of each Commissioner. Finally, the
new Commission as a whole must be approved by the
Parliament.In addition to its
role in approving a new Commission, the European
Parliament has the power at any time to force the entire
Commission to resign through a vote of no confidence.
(This requires a vote that makes up at least two-thirds of
those voting and a majority of the total membership of the
Parliament. While it has never used this power, it
threatened to use it against the Commission headed by
Jacques
Santer in 1999, with the result
that the
whole Commission resigned of its own accord).
The present Commission, the
Barroso
Commission, consists of 25
Commissioners. This Commission will serve from
22 November
2004
to 31
October
2009.
The
enlargement of
the Union on
1 May
2004
increased the number of member states from 15 to 25, and
had an effect on the make-up of the Commission. Prior to
this date, there were 20 Commissioners. In the months
after May 2004 the size of the Commission was temporarily
increased to 30 members - consisting of the 20
Commissioners already in post, plus one from each of the
10 acceding member states. The number was reduced to 25,
with one Commissioner from each member state, when the
Barroso commission took office in November 2004.
If the new
Treaty
establishing a Constitution for Europe
is adopted, the size of the Commission will be further
reduced. Member states will take it in turns to nominate
Commissioners, with any given state making a nomination on
two out of every three occasions that a new Commission is
to be appointed. |
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Directorates-General
The
Commission is divided into departments known as
Directorates-General (DG) that can be likened to
government ministries. The DGs cover either internal
policies (e.g. the Directorate-General for Information
Society and Media), external policies (e.g. the
Directorate-General for External Relations) or internal
services (e.g. the Directorate-General for Translation).
Each Directorate-General is supervised by a senior civil
servant known as the Director-General, who reports
directly to the Commissioner or Commissioners responsible
for that policy area. |
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History
The
Commission originated in the High Authority of the
European Coal and Steel Community, which was established
in 1951 under the terms of the Treaty Establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community. In 1958 two further
bodies were established under the terms of the Treaties of
Rome. These were the Commission of the European Economic
Community and the Commission of the European Atomic Energy
Community. Finally, in 1967, these three bodies merged to
form the Commission of the European Communities,
established under the terms of the Merger Treaty. This is
the body that continues to exist to this day. |
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Decision
making procedure
Individual
commissioners take responsibility for advancing the work
of European Commission in their areas of interest, but any
key decisions are generally taken collectively by the
Commission as a whole. To make this possible, there are
regular meetings of all the Commissioners, which have two
types of agenda items:
- A-item is an item that
is not controversial and can be passed without
discussion
- B-item still needs
discussion before being accepted
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