The European Commission is one of the principal institutions of the European Union (EU). Originally established by the Treaty of Rome as one of the executive bodies of the European Economic Community, it later took on some of the functions of the High Authority which governed the European Coal and Steel Community until 1967. The role of the Commission is to initiate policy formulation, monitor the implementation of policy and manage EU programmes and the EU’s external relations. As such it has the characteristics of both a political executive and a civil service.
The European Commission is led by the president of the Commission and his College of Commissioners, who collectively serve a four-year term. Since 2004 the College has been composed of 25 commissioners, including the president, each nominated by one of the 25 member states. This new arrangement for the enlarged EU25 replaces the former situation whereby there were 20 commissioners, with the larger states (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) providing two commissioners, and the smaller states just one.
The president of the Commission is nominated by the Council of the European Union and the Council’s choice is then ratified by the European Parliament (EP). The commissioners are nominated by their member states, and are then approved or rejected by the president. The president allocates portfolios to the nominated commissioners—each commissioner is responsible for one of the Directorates-General (DGs)—and the EP then has the authority to approve or reject the complete College. The EP threatened to vote against the College proposed by President José Manuel Durão Barroso in October 2004 as many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) objected to his choice of Commissioner for DG Justice, Freedom and Security, Rocco Buttiglione, who had expressed controversial views on homosexuality and the role of women in society. Barroso was forced to withdraw and reconstitute his proposed College.
The European Commission plays an important role in the policy-making process of the European Community (EC), the first pillar of the EU. Although it is ultimately the Council of the European Union and the EP that agree legislation, the Commission is responsible for drafting legislation, overseeing its implementation and imposing sanctions on member states and firms that breach Community law. The Commission manages the EC budget and the allocation of funds to programmes such as the Common Agricultural Policy and Structural Funds. The Commission also represents the EU in international organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the G7/G8. Even in policy areas where decisions are made on an intergovernmental basis, such as when the European Council agrees new treaties or agreements are reached by the inter-governmental pillars of the EU in the areas of Common Foreign and Security Policy or Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters, the Commission plays an important role in translating general guide-lines into detailed policy. The work of the DGs is supported by a set of departments which provide services to the Commission. These include personnel, translation and interpreting and statistical services (Eurostat). The Commission has a total staff of around 22,000 (2002).
The Commission is accountable to the EP. As well as having the right to reject the president’s choice of commissioners, the Parliament can dismiss the whole College, though not individual commissioners, by means of a two-thirds’ majority in a vote of no confidence. President Jacques Santer, the president of the College of Commissioners in 1995–99, resigned nine months early in March 1999 after the Commission had narrowly survived an EP vote of censure (232 for, 293 against) in January 1999. The Commission was accused by an independent Committee of Experts of corruption, a lack of accountability and financial mismanagement. Specifically, the Committee of Experts accused the Commissioner for Research, Edith Cresson, of offering contracts to friends, and President Santer of not being vigilant against Commission corruption. The president of the Commission in 1999–2004, Romano Prodi, set about reforming the institution to improve standards of accountability, efficiency, transparency and responsibility. These reforms were guided by a Commission White Paper of 2000, and their implementation was overseen by vice-president and Commissioner for Administrative Reform, Neil Kinnock.
The 25 members of the 2004–09 College of the European Commission are: José Manuel Durão Barroso, president (Portugal); Günter Verheugen vice-president/DG Enterprise and Industry (Germany); Margot Wallström, vice-president/DG Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy (Sweden); Jacques Barrot, vice-president/DG Transport (France); Siim Kallas, vice-president/DG Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud (Estonia); Franco Frattini, vice-president/DG Justice, Freedom and Security (Italy); Viviane Reding, DG Information Society and Media (Luxembourg); Stavros Dimas, DG Environment (Greece); Joaquin Almunia, DG Economic and Monetary Affairs (Spain); Danuta Huebner, DG Regional Policy (Poland); Joe Borg, DG Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (Malta); Dalia Grybauskaite, DG Financial Programming and Budget (Lithuania); Janez Potocnik, DG Science and Research (Slovenia); Jan Figel, DG Education, Training, Culture, and Multilinguism (Slovakia); Markos Kyprianou, DG Health and Consumer Protection (Cyprus); Olli Rehn, DG Enlargement (Finland); Louis Michel, DG Development and Humanitarian Aid (Belgium); László Kovács, DG Taxation and Customs Union (Hungary); Neelie Kroes, DG Competition (Netherlands); Mariann Fischer Boel, DG Agriculture and Rural Development (Denmark); Benita Ferrero-Waldner, DG External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy (Austria); Charlie McCreevy, DG Internal Market and Services (Ireland); Vladimir Spidla, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (Czech Republic); Peter Mandelson, DG Trade (United Kingdom); Andris Piebalgs, DG Energy (Latvia).
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