3.2 The European Commission

The main features of the Commission are:

• In a strict sense it is the "college" of Commissioners, but the term is also used to cover the whole institution including the European civil servants ("fonctionnaires"). Thus the term "Commission" refers to:
• The members of the Commission, i.e. the 25 Commissioners.
• The institution itself with all its employees.
• The main functions of the Commission are:
• Proposing legislation.
• Administering & implementing Community policies.
• Acting as the guardian of EU law.
• Representative of the EU on the international stage.
• It has the power and duty of initiating, overseeing, monitoring and enforcing EU legislation. It, therefore, has legislative, executive, administrative and judicial activities and responsibilities. It also drafts the budget, is the guardian of the treaties and is the "motor" of integration. It is unique among international bureaucracies in the extensiveness of its powers - much more than, say, the British civil service. It is a very powerful EU institution.
• A President heads the Commission. The Commissioners are appointed for a 5-year period. There are currently 25 Commissioners, one from each of the EU25 countries. Romania and Bulgaria do not currently have Commissioners. These commissioners include the President and 5 Vice-Presidents.
• The current structure of the Commission was agreed under the 2001 Treaty of Nice, when it was agreed that the Commission would consist of one member per member state until membership of the EU reaches 27. After that, membership will be fixed at a number, and according to a system of national rotation, will be determined by unanimous vote at Council.
• The Commissioners also cover:
• The Joint Research Centre.
• The Humanitarian Aid Directorate-General, otherwise known as the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO).
• EuropeAid (sic) Cooperation Office.
• The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which was set up in 1999. OLAF's mission is to protect the financial interests of the EU, fight fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity, including misconduct within the European institutions with financial consequences.
• External relations are covered by the Commissioner for External Relations and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (a post set up under the Amsterdam Treaty).

Some key dates are:

• The European Commission of the European Economic Community (the EEC) was set up under the 1957 Treaty of Rome.
• The 1965 Merger Treaty, created a common Commission for all three European Communities: the European Coal and Steel Community, the EEC and Euratom. The European Commission is still sometimes known as the Commission of the European Communities.
• In March 1999 the whole Commission (under President Jacques Santer) resigned, following the European Parliament's refusal (in March 1998) to approve the accounts for 1996. A new Commission, under Romano Prodi, was appointed in September 1999.
• Enlargement (May 2004) resulted in the appointment of Commissioners from the 10 new member states.
• The Barroso Commission took over in November 2004, with 25 Commissioners and one Commissioner per country, irrespective of size. The Barroso Commission's term of office is due to expire in October 2009.

Commission Presidents

Source: Timothy Bainbridge, The Penguin Companion to the European Union (3^rd edition), Penguin books, 2002, updated.

The new Commission (2004)

* But note that the High Representative for the CFSP is Javier Solana Madariaga (Spain), who also the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.

Source: Dod's Eurosource 2008, Dod's Parliamentary Communications, 2006.

RL, April 2008