The European Commission - transforming the framework of the EU set up by the treaties, into what it is today

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The European Commission

The European Commission operates at the heart of the Union. It is the main source of policy initiatives, and it has transformed the framework of the EU set up by the treaties, into what it is today.

Thanks to the commission, the citizens of Europe have seen many benefits, generally in better living standards.

The commission is made up of 20 commissioners, each one with a different job, and elected by parliament.

The President, Italian, Romano Prodi has 2 vice presidents, British - Neil Kinnock and Spanish Loyola De Palacio.

However, the commission has not done any of what it's done on it's own, it works very close to the other institutions, and to the governments of the 15 member states.

The commission regularly drafts new legislation, it carries out lots of research prior to doing this, it speaks to people form all walks of life, including trade unions, governments and other interested parties. IT attempts only to find things, which benefit all people, no matter where they are from.

As part of the commission's role within the EU, it must act as the guardian of the treaties, and if anyone breaks them, it can threaten of actually take legal action in the European Court of Justice.

The commission must also manage policies, and negotiate international trade or cooperation agreements.

As the executive body of the Union, it's responsible for managing the EU's budget, normally about £60bn.

The commission normally only make recommendations to the European Parliament, and the council of ministers, but in cases such as agriculture, it can go ahead and create the policies themselves, without consulting parliament of the CoM.

In terms of cooperation agreements and international trade, the union has about 100 countries these types of agreements with the EU. It is up to the commission to make sure that these are all managed correctly.

A good example of a cooperation agreement is seen by the lome convention, which links the union to developing countries of Africa, the Caribbean, and the pacific.

Every 5 years, the commission gets reelected. The election process is explained in detail in the next section, where I talk about the European Parliament. Parliament also heavily overlooks the commission.

One note, however, that must be made about the European Commission, is that all 20 commissioners must swear on oath that their actions will be fair to all countries in the EU, and not just to their own. Therefore, as all commissioners must favour all countries evenly, the fact that the larger countries, such as the UK, seems to be a somewhat pointless exercise, and implies that they are their on behalf of their countries, even though they are there on behalf of the EU.

European Parliament

European Parliament is made up of 626 people from all 15 member states. The UK has got 87 representatives, each one elected by the British people. In the meetings, the representatives, or MEPs, sit in their political groups, of which there are 9, as opposed to in their countries.
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The European Parliament, who meet in Brussels, Luxembourg, and Strassbourg.

The Parliament has got three locations, for mainly historical; reasons:

* The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set-up in Luxembourg in 1952.

* The European Atomic Energy Community (known as Euratom) was set-up along with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958, both being located in Brussels.

* Strasbourg was initially the seat of the Council Of Europe, and then in 1952, of the European Parliament.

The European Council meeting in Edinburgh in 1992 and the Amsterdam treaty formalised the location ...

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