Subject: European Union Basics (FAQ), Part4/8
Supersedes: <european-union/basics/part4_826959501@rtfm.mit.edu>
Date: 6 Apr 1996 18:24:40 GMT
References: <european-union/basics/part3_828814601@rtfm.mit.edu>
Summary: This file is part of an eight-part posting containing basic
  information about the European Union and other related or unrelated
  European political organisations. It is hoped to serve both as background
  information for those wishing to discuss European politics on the
  talk.politics.european-union newsgroup, and as a general reference for
  anyone concerned with politics in Europe.
X-Last-Updated: 1996/04/05
X-URL: http://eubasics.allmansland.com/commission.html 
Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu talk.politics.european-union:5553 eunet.politics:17843 alt.politics.ec:10116 alt.answers:16861 talk.answers:1349 news.answers:68796

Archive-name: european-union/basics/part4
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URL: http://eubasics.allmansland.com/commission.html


+  NB READERS OF THIS TEXT VERSION:                                     
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                                         EU Basics FAQ: The European Commission
   [EU Flag]
   
                    QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
                                       
General information

   The European Commission is the body with the formal and exclusive power to
   initiate all EU legislation, and which is supposed to represent the interest
   of the Union as a whole, both in the political processes within the EU as in
   negotiations with the outside world. This means that it must take no
   instruction from any of the member states' governments; it is accountable
   only to the European Parliament (as well as, as any EU institution, to the
   European Court). Also, it is the main body with a duty to look after correct
   implementation of the treaties and subsequent legislation.
   
   The Commission's members are nominated by their national governments and
   must be acceptable to all the government leaders of the member states. Small
   member states each have one Commissioner, while the larger ones (Germany,
   France, Italy, UK, Spain) each have two. That makes a total of 20
   Commissioners now.
   
   Generally, every Commission is more or less balanced in party affiliation
   (Britain always appoints a Tory and a Labour candidate, and up to the
   present Commission the Benelux countries always saw to it that one of their
   Commissioners was a socialist, one a christian-democrat and one a +liberal;
   [which is more rightwing than a christian-democrat in the Benelux].)
   
The Directorates-General of the Commission

   The Commission is a big organisation, whose tasks have been divided in
   different departments or Directorates-General on the one hand, and some
   supporting services on the other hand.
   
  DG I                   External Economic Relations
                         
  DG IA                  External Political Relations
                         
  DG II                  Economic and Financial Affairs
                         
  DG III                 Industry
                         
  DG IV                  Competition
                         
  DG V                   Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs
                         
  DG VI                  Agriculture
                         
  DG VII                 Transport
                         
  DG VIII                Development
                         
  DG IX                  Personnel and Administration
                         
  DG X                   Information, Communication, Culture, Audiovisual
                         
  DG XI                  Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection
                         
  DG XII                 Science, Research and Development
                         
  DG XIII                Telecommunications, Information Market and
                         Exploitation of Research
                         
  DG XIV                 Fisheries
                         
  DG XV                  Internal Market and Financial Services
                         
  DG XVI                 Regional Policies
                         
  DG XVII                Energy
                         
  DG XVIII               Credit and Investments
                         
  DG XIX                 Budgets
                         
  DG XX                  Financial Control
                         
  DG XXI                 Customs and Indirect Taxation
                         
  DG XXII                Education, Training and Youth
                         
  DG XXIII               Enterprise Policy, Distributive Trades, Tourism and
                         Cooperatives
                         
  DG XXIV                Consumer Policy
                         
  Services
                         
      Secretariat-General of the Commission
      
      Forward Studies Unit
      
      Joint Research Centre
      
      Inspectorate-General
      
      Legal Service
      
      Spokesman's Service
      
      Joint Interpreting and Conference Service
      
      Statistical Office (EUROSTAT)
      
      Translation Service
      
      Informatics Directorate
      
      Security Office
      
      European Community Humanitarian Office
      
      Euratom Supply Agency
      
      Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
      
      Enlargement Task Force (TFE)
      
   It might be worth pointing out that the relationship between the Commission
   Members themselves and the staff of the European Commission is similar to
   that between Government ministers and the permanent civil service, in the
   sense that the former have no security of tenure, and inevitably with a
   different number of Commission Members and DGs their portfolios don't
   necessarily correspond directly to the DG structure.
   
Who is the President (chairman) of the European Commission?

   The function of President (or chair) of the Commission has undoubtedly
   become much more important in the last ten years. This has much to do with
   the personal style of the man who has held the job for the last ten years,
   the French socialist Jacques Delors, and the extension of the EU's powers
   during his presidency. Mr. Delors predecessors were mainly considered top
   civil servants, but the political profile of the function has become much
   stronger.
   
   These are the Commission presidents since the 1967 merger[1]:
   
  1967-1970              Mr Jean Rey (Liberal, Belgium)
                         
  1970-1972              Mr Malfatti (Christian Democrat, Italy)
                         
  1973-1976              Mr Frangois Ortoli (Gaullist, France)
                         
  1977-1980              Mr Roy Jenkins (Socialist [now LibDem], UK)
                         
  1981-1984              Mr Gaston Thorn (Liberal, Luxembourg)
                         
  1985-1994              Mr Jacques Delors (Socialist, France)
                         
  1995-2000              Mr Jacques Santer (Christian Democrat, Luxembourg)
                         
   The Commission president is chosen in consensus by the European Council[2],
   which has shown to be quite a difficult task to accomplish now that the
   function has become highly politicised. On July 15th, the European Council
   agreed upon the Luxembourg PM, Mr Jacques Santer, as the new Commission
   president. This followed the UK government veto on the Belgian PM, Mr
   Jean-Luc Dehaene.
   
   The EP approved Mr.Santer by a margin of only 22 votes on July 21st., 1994.
   After the EP organised hearings for all other prospective members of the
   Commission, the new Commission started work at the end of January, 1995.
   
Where can I find the European Commission on the net?

  EMAIL CONNECTIVITY
  
       NOTE: This section contains information that is no longer up-to-dat
     e. It will be updated in the next version of the FAQ
     
   Most people working at the European Commission should now be reachable
   though the Internet at the address <given_name_initial.surname@mhsg.cec.be>.
   The example of <J.Santer@mhsg.cec.be> is purely fictional because this
   address system applies only to the Commission's staff (civil servants),
   rather than the Commissioners (politicians). Indeed, rumour goes that the
   authors of the Bangemann Report (on the information society) used faxes (not
   e-mail) to exchange drafts and comments ;-)
   
   Some of the DG's have their own Internet domain as well, but their users
   should still be reachable under the scheme described above.
   
  DATABASES AND INFOSYSTEMS
  
   As of March 1995, the European Commission has set up its own general
   WorldWideWeb-server under the name of +Europa;, in addition to some specific
   WWW servers that had already been developed before. It was announced as
   follows:
   
       On 25 February 1995, during the +G7 Conference on the Information S
     ociety;, the European Commission introduced a new on-line database of
      information about the European Union, intended for the general publi
     c and known as +Europa;. The main function of Europa, which can be fo
     und on the World Wide Web with the URL http://www.cec.lu/[3]  is to p
     rovide information and guidance in clear everyday language on topics
     of interest to consumers within the single market. However, it also c
     ontains basic information about the European Institutions, and a coll
     ection of some of the more grotesque so-called +euro-myths; put about
      by eurosceptics, explaining how they arose and the reality behind th
     em. Initially, Europa will be available in English only, but the EC p
     lans to provide versions in other EU languages in due course.
     
   
   ___________________________________
   
                                Edited by Roland Siebelink & Bart Schelfhout[4]
                                           corrections and suggestions welcome.
                                                                               
   [Go to Table of Contents][5]

*** References from this document ***
[1] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/general.html#merger
[2] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/councils.html#eu-council
[3] http://www.cec.lu/
[4] mailto:eubasics@allmansland.com
[5] http://eubasics.allmansland.com/index.html


