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The functions of the Commission

Q: Also very much in line with the functions performed by national executives, the Commission has an important role to play in the implementation of European policies. What does this mean in an EU context?

That the Commission is responsible for the monitoring of implementation within the EU's member states.

6 important questions on The functions of the Commission

The Commission is, like governments, composed of what?

A political executive wing (the Commissioners and their staffs) and an administrative wing (the departments and 'services').

The Commission has a wide range of funtions within the EU system:

Policy initiation, the monitoring of policy implementation, the management of European programmes, an important external relations role, and other functions that involve it as a mediator amongst the 28 member states, and between the EU Council and the EP, as well as asserting its own European identity.

It is in this sense that, in the majority of policy areas, such as the single market and Justice and Home Affairs, the Commission performs what important role?

An important agenda-setting role. Other actors, such as the European Council (the heads of state and government), the EP, national officials, and interest groups, may also take initiatives and advance policy proposals, but it is generally up to the Commission to decide whether these ideas will be picked up and subsequently passed in to the legislature in the form of a formal legislative proposal, even if in practice these sorts of policy initiative quite often originate from outside the Commission.

Also very much in line with the functions performed by national executives, the Commission has an important role to play in the implementation of European policies. What does this mean in an EU context?

That the Commission is responsible for the monitoring of implementation within the EU's member states.

However, before implementation can occur at the national or sub-national levels, it may be necessary for secondary (or administrative) legislation to be agreed. Why?

This is because laws adopted by the Council and the EP may take the form of broad policy guidelines or frameworks rather than detailed steering instruments. Thus it is up to the Commission, in close cooperation with the member states, to detail and fill in EP / Council legislation by agreeing morre specific rules, often in the form of Commission directives or regulations, in what is called 'delegated legislation'.

Finally, the Commission has an external representation role, such as when?

When it acts as the main negotiator for the Union in trade and cooperation negotiations, and within international bodies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).