European Commission

Due to technological problems Fiona did not get our initial paragraph. 

We worked over our first drafts and in the progress deleted the original.

European Commission

As one of the main bodies of the European Union, the Commission represents the EU as a whole, manages the budget, sets objectives and priorities for action and enforces European Law in cooperation with the Court of Justice. Furthermore it ensures that laws are correctly applied by all member states and proposes new legislation to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. These proposals are made to meet obligations under the EU treaties, at the request of another EU institution, country, and stakeholder or, since April 2012, EU citizens. Before making a proposal the president of the European Commission - currently Portuguese Commissioner José Manuel Barroso - and the other 27 Commissioners, one representing each member state, meet to consult. Each Commissioner is responsible for a certain department, but due to the principle of collective responsibility, no one is able to take any individual decisions. The Commission’s staff consists of administrators, lawyers, economists, translators, interpreters, secretarial staff, etc. who are organised in divisions, so called Directorates-General (DGs). These are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Commission. Each member state holds branch offices but its headquarters are located in Brussels and Luxembourg.

All in all, the European Commission plays a vital role in the administrative behemoth that is the European Union.

Fabio Nitsche, Martin Tieber, Chloé Cloison