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Commissioner

Vice-President of the Commission, Margot Wallström (Photo: EU Commission)

Informally, the appointed Members of the Commission are known as ‘commissioners’.

The Commission is currently made up of 27 commissioners, one national of each Member State, however they are bound to act independently. They are led by the President of the Commission (presently José Manuel Barroso). The commissioners are appointed by the Member States and elected with super qualified majority at a summit with the Prime Ministers. They are chosen for their general competence, and should all guarantee their independence. They have all held political positions in their countries of origin, often as ministers.

Procedure

The Commission is reappointed every five years within six months of the elections to the European Parliament. The Member State governments appoint the new Commission President by support from at least 20 of 27 Prime Ministers. 

The Commission President-designate is then approved by Parliament. The Commission President-designate, in discussion with the Member State governments, chooses the other Members of the Commission after "proposals" from the Member States.

The Council adopts the list of nominees by super qualified majority and communicates it to the European Parliament for approval.  The Parliament then interviews each nominee and votes its opinion on the whole team.  Following Parliaments vote of approval, the new Commission is formally appointed by the Council, acting by super qualified majority.

The future

The Lisbon Treaty proposes a Commission consisting of a member from 2/3 of the member states from 2014. All members must be appointed by a super qualified majority of 72 % of the heads of state or government, and this qualified majority must also represent 65% of the population in the EU. The President-elect of the Commission establish the list of Commissioners together with the Prime Ministers. The Commission is then approved by the European Parliament and appointed by the European Council according to the above mentioned procedure. See Art. 17.7 TEU.

Under the Nice Treaty every Member State establish a "proposal" for their candidate. Under the Lisbon Treaty Member States can only present "suggestions".

Links

European Commission website: http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/comm/index_en.htm