04/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2024 03:37
The European Commission is the institution of the European Union (EU) responsible for ensuring the Community interest and compliance with the founding treaties. It is politically independent of the Member States, and performs executive, legislative, oversight and high political representation functions.
The Commission's headquarters are in Brussels (Belgium), although some of its departments are in Luxembourg. It also has offices in all EU Member States.
The Commission is usually identified as the "executive body" of the EU, but its functions are very broad, and include legislative powers, control of legality or high institutional representation. Its main tasks are as follows:
The Commission is composed of 27 Commissioners, one from each Member State, under the direction of a Commission President. Each commissioner is responsible for a specific portfolio, in a similar way to ministers. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, appointed by the European Council with the approval of the President of the Commission, has the status of a Commissioner.
The Commissioners and the President of the Commission make up the College of Commissioners. The President of the Commission appoints the Vice-Presidents of the College, although the High Representative always has this status.
The appointment of the members of the European Commission is closely linked to the European Parliament elections. Once these have taken place, the European Council proposes a candidate for President of the Commission, taking into account the election results. The nominee usually comes from the political group with the largest representation in Parliament.
The Parliament must approve the new president by an absolute majority, before they are formally appointed by the European Council.
The president-elect will then appoint 26 of the 27 commissioners. The missing person is the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and their appointment is made by the European Council, although it also requires the approval of the Commission President.
Commissioners-designate appear before the relevant parliamentary committees, where their suitability for the post is assessed. Once approved, Parliament votes for the approval of the full College of Commissioners, including the elected President and High Representative.
If the College as a whole is approved, the European Council completes the process with the formal appointment of all Commissioners.
The president's term of office is five years. After the European elections on 6-9 June 2024, the next President of the Commission will be elected for the period 2024-2029.
In addition to the College as the highest decision-making body, the European Commission is organised into directorates-general and executive agencies.
Directorates-General are bodies responsible for a particular subject area. They may be attached to one or more commissioners. Directorates-General develop, implement and manage EU policies, legislation and funding programmes.
Executive agencies have a more autonomous functioning, managing programmes or functions of the Commission. For example, this is the case of the European Research Executive Agency.
These bodies are served by a staff of 32,000, including both civil servants and employees.
Citizens can interact with the European Commission through the Citizen Participation Platform. This platform allows citizens to participate in debates on EU policies and share their views.
Participation can take place through different mechanisms, such as through online contributions or as part of citizens' panels.
Non official translation