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3.3 The European Commission
The commission is the backbone of the European union. Its members are politicians chosen by governments in the EU countries. Both councils and the parliament is expected to act according to national interest. Therefore the idea behind the commission is to act in the interest of EU as a whole.
The responsibilities of the commission are:
1. To propose legislation to the parliament and the councils.
2. To manage the EU budget and allocate funds.
3. To enforce EU laws.
4. To represent the union.
The commissioners, as members of the European commission are called, are assigned a specific area to work on by the president of the commission. The president can also demand that a commissioner steps down.
In the Lisbon Treaty there is a very small change in how to elect the president since it mentions that the council nominates a president, taking into account, the latest european level election (that is an election to the European Parliament). It doesn't mean that the winning party in the European Parliament election will necessarily have their candidate chosen...
The commission has a duty to uphold European law by assuring that countries are sufficiently attuned to the letter of the legal requirements. In international negotiations, the commissioners are responsible for particularly trade negotiations or humanitarian aid while the High Representative of the Union on Foreign Affairs is supposed to handle most other areas.
The commission meets once each week. They let the commissioner with responsibility in the specific areas present the item and the whole commission will collectively vote on it.
The commission (even though it is a serious breach of the European Commissions intention, I have included nationalities!)
José Manuel Barroso [President] (Portugal)
Catherine Ashton [Vice-President]High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (United Kingdom)
Viviane Reding [Vice-President]Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship (Luxembourg)
Joaquín Almunia [Vice-President]Competition (Spain)
Siim Kallas [Vice-President]Transport (Estonia)
Neelie Kroes [Vice-President]Digital Agenda (Holland)
Antonio Tajani [Vice-President]Industry and Entrepreneurship (Italy)
Maroš Šefčovič [Vice-President]Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration (Slovakia)
Olli Rehn [Vice-President]Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro (Finland)
Janez Potočnik Environment (Slovenia)
Andris Piebalgs Development (Latvia)
Michel Barnier Internal Market and Services (France)
Androulla Vassiliou Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth (Cyprus)
Algirdas Šemeta Taxation, Customs, Statistics, Audit and Anti-Fraud (Lithuania)
Karel De Gucht Trade (Belgium)
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn Research, Innovation and Science (Ireland)
Janusz Lewandowski Financial Programming and Budget (Poland)
Maria Damanaki Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (Greece)
Kristalina Georgieva International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response (Bulgaria)
Günther Oettinger Energy (Germany)
Johannes Hahn Regional Policy (Austria)
Connie Hedegaard Climate Action (Denmark)
Štefan Füle Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy (Czech Republic)
László Andor Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (Hungary
Cecilia Malmström Home Affairs (Sweden)
Dacian Cioloş Agriculture and Rural Development (Romania)
Tonio Borg Health (Malta)
Neven Mimica Consumer policy (Croatia)
Sources
http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/how-the-european-union-works-pbNA3212336/;pgid=y8dIS7GUWMdSR0EAlMEUUsWb0000KSRDUnFj;sid=QGBH6tQ4aiFHyoYXBWXZTbYdR7NBOdPrRrM=?CatalogCategoryID=luYKABst3IwAAAEjxJEY4e5L
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/members/index_en.htm
  
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Whenever I find time I read your educational posts, the EU is important and yet its complex structure is rarely discussed in the mainstream media.
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Well if this is supposed
On December 11 2013 18:33 radiatoren wrote:
to serve as a prelude to a thread about the European Parliament elections 2014
I'd like to stress my main point of criticsim, namely about the commission:
On December 11 2013 18:33 radiatoren wrote:
Its members are politicians chosen by governments in the EU countries.
So as I view it, the influence of your countries election still have a much greater effect on EU-politics than the european parliament elections have.
This does ofc not mean that the commission is powerless, the contrary is the fact. But I feel that its power far exceed it's democratic control/legitimization.
Worth noting is also that commission has as many members as the EU has states, to please the every states. Also 8 vice-presidents, really? I don't think that's how it should stay. Germany regularly sends an unpopular politician whose expertice is somewhat doubted as it's commissaire, another retarded mechanism. Is it the same way for other states?
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On December 12 2013 22:54 Mafe wrote:Well if this is supposed Show nested quote +On December 11 2013 18:33 radiatoren wrote:
to serve as a prelude to a thread about the European Parliament elections 2014 I'd like to stress my main point of criticsim, namely about the commission: Show nested quote +On December 11 2013 18:33 radiatoren wrote:
Its members are politicians chosen by governments in the EU countries. So as I view it, the influence of your countries election still have a much greater effect on EU-politics than the european parliament elections have. This does ofc not mean that the commission is powerless, the contrary is the fact. But I feel that its power far exceed it's democratic control/legitimization. Worth noting is also that commission has as many members as the EU has states, to please the every states. Also 8 vice-presidents, really? I don't think that's how it should stay. Germany regularly sends an unpopular politician whose expertice is somewhat doubted as it's commissaire, another retarded mechanism. Is it the same way for other states?
Those are completely valid points. The election process of the commission is problematic, that the politicians are supposed to be politically and nationally neutral is a dream, that the commission has to act in agreement as soon as they have reached an agreement is quite a restraint, that the commission and individual commissioners have as much power as they do is asking for heavy targeted lobbying if not straight up corruption and that the prestige of being a commissioner is low makes some of them more prone to being opportunistic, worsening the aforementioned problems.
For now, Denmark has had 2 straight commissioner coming from jobs as ministers for the field they ended up getting in the European Commission.
But, before that, the European Commission served mostly as a landfill for politiclans their own parties would rather not have to deal with.
The current prime minister was a European Parliamentarian previously, so overall the job as an EU politician is becoming somewhat relevant for more ambitious young politicians.
I dont see the value of politizising the OPs too much as their main job is to serve as a relatively objective walkthrough of facts. I can almost guarantee that the election thread will be much more opinionated and critical of the union. If you have sources or suggestions to improve these texts it would be amazing!
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hey it´s my first post but this thread is very interesting, so i just have to write something! Just a point for perspecitve:
It´s probaply worth noting that, although the commission is not the most democratic institution, the commission has an element of democratic legetimation. The commission is a clear case of executive-federalism, a trait you can attribute to many EU-Institutions. This executive-federalism is a relict from the past of the EU and as time goes by it is possible that many of these "undemocratic" solutions will be changed to more direct-representativ solutions.
As a example the proposed new commission has to be accepted by the EU-Parliament, which, no doubt, brings a democratic element into the creation of the commission.
Hope i could contribute something :D
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Excellent post and I agree. 
It is all about framing. If you like EU, you point to the constant improvements they make in these areas, while if you are against EU you point towards how long a way EU still is from reaching a democratic and transparent state (To some degree such a state is an illusion).
In this context, I would say that the acceptance of the new commission from EP and the councils having to look at the parliamentary composition before choosing the president can be seen in two ways:
1. It is an undeniable improvement of the democratic overview. Having both the will of the people and the national governments opinions reflected in the choices is paramount to creating the necessary trust in the institution.
2. It is symptom treatment since it is still secondary overview. It doesn't address the concentration of power and the unmeetable neutrality visions. At the same time, the musketeering of the commission can easily become a problem when a few apples are rotten and refuse to step back (What ended the Santor commission).
I don't think the commission is the worst in lacking transparency (Goes to the council, in lieu of the communication to/from the COREPER institution), but it has the aforementioned structural problems that amounts to a false sense of democratic overview of this very bureaucratic institution.
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EPT
