The Commission lies at the heart of the European Union. It is supposed to be
the motor of integration and, to that end, it has responsibility for proposing
new policies and laws. Some have called it the 'agenda-setter'; though as we
will see, it faces competition for that role.
The Commission is commonly regarded as the executive of the Union: in other
words, its function is to carry out the EU's policies. However, the comparison
with national executives is not exact. Although many of the founders of the
European Community hoped that the Commission would emerge as a 'government' like
any other, many important differences remain. In fact, one of the reasons why
the Commission is such a fascinating area of study is that it has no obvious
parallel as a political body:
- In important respects it remains an 'international body'. On the one hand,
this means that it is perhaps the most developed international governance
structure in the world. On other, it is a source of weakness: the Commission
lacks the hierarchical chains of command that oflen contribute to the coherence
and discipline of national administations.
- The Commission is only one section of the dual political leadership of the
EU: the other being the Council of Ministers, which has to agree all proposals
made by the Commission. Remember: 'The Commission proposes and the Council
decides.'
- It is very rare for the Commission to have complete responsibility for
any one policy area. It almost always has to share responsibility with national
administrations. In this respect it is unlike any of its national governments,
with the possible exception of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- The Commission has relatively slender resources of its own. The EU's budget
is only 1.27% of EU GNP (cf 40-60% in most member states) and its administration
consists of just 12 000 civil servants.
- One consequence of the latter is that the Commission tends only to
supervise the process of policy implementation. Detailed implementation is
carried out through the bureaucratic structures of the member states.
- The Commission lacks the democratic legitimacy that allows national
governments to act with confidence. We will come back to this problem.
