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The Commission currently consists of 25 Commissioners, one from each member state of the EU, supported by an administrative body of several thousand European civil servants. Each Commissioner takes responsibility for a particular area of policy, and heads a department called a Directorate General . The Commission is headed by a President (from November 2004, José Durão Barroso of Portugal).
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.
The purpose-built Berlaymont building in Brussels, housing the European Commission
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 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” (a category which includes most areas of policy). 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 member states.
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 comitology.
The Commission also regulatesIn the context of government and public services regulation (as a process) is the control of something by rules, as opposed to its prohibition. In economics, it is part of the government relationship with markets, often seen as the opposite of deregulatio competitionCompetition characterises a biochemical, ecologic, economic, political, or sporting activity whereby two or more individuals or groups strive antagonistically against one another for some reward. The reward could consist of: fame, esteem, reputation, or r in the Union, vetting all mergers with Community-wide effects, and initiating proceedings against companies which violate EU competition laws.