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H
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The General Secretariat
The presidency is assisted by the General
Secretariat, which prepares and ensures the
smooth functioning of the Council’s work at
all levels.
In 2004, Javier Solana was reappointed Sec-
retary-General of the Council. He is also High
Representative for the common foreign and
security policy (CFSP) and in this capacity
he helps coordinate the EU’s action on the
world stage.
The Secretary-General is assisted by a Deputy
Secretary-General in charge of managing the
General Secretariat.
Coreper
In Brussels, each EU country has a permanent
team (‘representation’) that represents it and
defends its national interest at EU level. The
head of each representation is, in effect, that
country’s ambassador to the EU.
These ambassadors are known as ‘perma-
nent representatives’ and meet weekly within
the Permanent Representatives Committee
(Coreper). The role of this committee is to
prepare the work of the Council, with the ex-
ception of most agricultural issues, which are
handled by the Special Committee on Agri-
culture. Coreper is assisted by a number of
working groups, attended by offi cials from the
representations or national administrations.
Security and defence
The Council is assisted by a separate structure
in matters of security and defence:
Æ
the Political and Security Committee
(PSC), which is to this cooperation what
Coreper is to other types of decision;
Æ
the European Union Military Committee
(EUMC), made up of the member states’
Chiefs of Defence Staff;
Æ
the European Union Military Staff (EUMS),
composed of military and civilian experts
seconded to the Council Secretariat by the
member states;
Æ
the Committee for the Civilian Aspects of
Crisis Management.
How many votes per country?
Decisions in the Council are taken by vote.
The bigger the country’s population, the more
votes it has, but the numbers are weighted in
favour of the less populous countries:
France, Germany, Italy and the
United Kingdom
29
Poland and Spain
27
Romania
14
Netherlands
13
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece,
Hungary and Portugal
12
Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden
10
Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania
and Slovakia
7
Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg
and Slovenia
4
Malta 3
Total 345
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Qualifi ed majority voting
In some particularly sensitive areas such as
common foreign and security policy, taxation,
asylum and immigration policy, Council deci-
sions have to be unanimous. In other words,
each member state has the power of veto in
these areas.
On most issues, however, the Council takes
decisions by ‘qualifi ed majority voting’.
A qualifi ed majority is reached:
•
if a majority of member states (in some
cases a two-thirds majority) approve and;
•
if a minimum of 255 votes is cast in favour
— which is 73.9% of the total.
In addition, a member state may ask for con-
fi rmation that the votes in favour represent at
least 62% of the total population of the Union.
If this is found not to be the case, the decision
will not be adopted.
The EU helps train and build police forces in troubled regions, stressing the importance of good community relations.
© European Union P
olice Mission
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The Commission is independent of nation-
al governments. Its job is to represent and
uphold the interests of the EU as a whole.
It drafts proposals for new European laws,
which it presents to the European Parliament
(EP) and the Council.
It is also the EU’s executive arm — in other
words, it is responsible for implementing the
decisions of Parliament and the Council. That
means managing the day-to-day business of
the European Union: implementing its poli-
cies, running its programmes and spending
its funds.
Like the EP and the Council, the European
Commission was set up in the 1950s under
the EU’s founding Treaties.
What is the Commission?
The term ‘Commission’ is used in two senses.
First, it refers to the team of men and wom-
en – one from each EU country – appointed
to run the institution and take its decisions.
Secondly, the term ‘Commission’ refers to
the institution itself and to its staff.
Informally, the appointed members of the
Commission are known as ‘commissioners’.
They have generally held political positions in
their countries of origin and many have been
government ministers, but as members of
the Commission they are committed to act-
ing in the interests of the Union as a whole
and not taking instructions from national
governments.
A new Commission is appointed every fi ve
years, within six months of the elections to
the European Parliament. The procedure is
as follows:
•
the member state governments agree to-
gether on who to designate as the new
Commission President;
•
the Commission President-designate is then
approved by Parliament;
H
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KEY FACTS
The European
Commission:
promoting the
common interest
ROLE //
Executive arm of the EU and initiator of legislative proposals
MEMBERS //
27: one from each of the member states
TERM OF OFFICE //
Five years (2004–09)
ADDRESS //
B-1049
Brussels
TEL. //
(32-2) 299 11 11
INTERNET //
ec.europa.eu
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•
the Commission President-designate, in
discussion with the member state govern-
ments, chooses the other members of the
Commission;
•
the new Parliament then interviews each
commissioner-designate and then gives its
opinion on the whole team. Once the new
Commission is approved, it can offi cially
start work.
The present Commission’s term of offi ce runs
until 31 October 2009. Its President is José
Manuel Barroso.
The Commission remains politically account-
able to Parliament, which has the power to
dismiss the whole Commission by adopting
a motion of censure. Individual members of
the Commission must resign if asked to do
so by the President and the other commis-
sioners approve.
The Commission is represented at all sessions
of Parliament, where it must clarify and justify
its policies. It also replies regularly to written
and oral questions posed by MEPs.
The day-to-day running of the Commission
is in the hands of administrative offi cials, ex-
perts, translators, interpreters and secretarial
staff. There are approximately 23 000 of these
European civil servants. That may sound a
lot, but in fact it is fewer than the number of
staff employed by a typical medium-sized city
council in Europe.
Where is the Commission based?
The ‘seat’ of the Commission is in Brussels
(Belgium), but it also has offi ces in Luxem-
bourg, representations in all EU countries and
delegations in many capital cities around the
world.
What does the Commission do?
The European Commission has four main
roles:
1. to propose legislation to Parliament and
the Council;
2. to manage and implement EU policies and
the budget;
3. to enforce EU law (jointly with the Court
of Justice);
4. to represent the European Union on the
international stage, for example by nego-
tiating agreements between the EU and
other countries.
1. Proposing new legislation
The Commission has the ‘right of initiative’.
In other words, the Commission alone is re-
sponsible for drawing up proposals for new
EU legislation, which it presents to Parliament
and the Council. These proposals must aim
to defend the interests of the Union and its
citizens, not those of specifi c countries or
industries.
There is one commissioner for each EU country.
© EC
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Before making any proposals, the Commis-
sion must be aware of new situations and
problems developing in Europe, and it must
consider whether EU legislation is the best
way to deal with them. That is why the Com-
mission is in constant touch with a wide range
of interest groups and with two advisory bod-
ies – the European Economic and Social Com-
mittee and the Committee of the Regions. It
also takes the opinions of national parliaments
and governments into account.
The Commission will propose action at EU
level only if it considers that a problem can-
not be solved more effi ciently by national,
regional or local action. This approach of deal-
ing with issues at the lowest possible level is
called the ‘subsidiarity principle’.
If the Commission concludes that EU legisla-
tion is needed, then it drafts a proposal that
it believes will deal with the problem effect-
ively and satisfy the widest possible range
of interests. To get the technical details right
the Commission consults experts, via various
advisory committees and consultative groups.
Frequently, it publishes ‘Green’ and ‘White’
papers, holds hearings, seeks the views of
civil society and commissions specialist ex-
pert reports, and often consults the public
directly before it makes a proposal in order
to ensure that it has as complete a picture
as possible.
2. Implementing EU policies and
the budget
As the European Union’s executive body, the
Commission is responsible for managing and
implementing the EU budget. Most of the
actual spending is done by national and local
authorities, but the Commission is respon-
sible for supervising it — under the watchful
eye of the Court of Auditors. Both institutions
aim to ensure good fi nancial management.
Only if it is satisfi ed with the Court of
Auditors’ annual report does the European
Parliament grant the Commission discharge
for implementing the budget.
The Commission also has to implement
decisions taken by Parliament and the
Council, such as those relating to the common
agricultural policy, fi sheries, energy, regional
development, the environment, or youth, and
educational training and exchange schemes,
such as the Erasmus programme. It also plays
a major role in competition policy in order to
ensure that businesses operate on a level
playing fi eld. The Commission may prohib-
it mergers between companies if it thinks
they will lead to unfair competition. The Com-
mission also has to make sure that EU
countries do not distort competition through
excessive subsidies to their industries.
The EU funds upgrades to telecommunications
infrastructure in less prosperous regions of the EU.
© EC
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