President of the European Commission
The President of the European Commission held a key role in the political system of the European Union. The respective incumbents of the presidency of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament for five years. He shall give guidance to the Commission's work and to ensure an effective and collegial organization of work of the Commission. As head of the executive office is to be compared with that of a government at the national level. Current incumbent is from November of 2004, José Manuel Barroso.
Tasks
As part of its organizational powers of the Commission directs the work of the Commission and shall convene the meetings of the College. According to Article 17, paragraph 6 of the Treaty he puts " the guidelines within which the Commission is to work "; So he has a policy competence. He also decides on the responsibilities of the Commissioners that he can remap during the term of office, and appoints the Vice- President of the Commission. In addition, he can dismiss individual members of the Commission.
Certain restrictions, the Commission in the exercise to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of its powers. Although this is a member of the Commission, and thus the policy-making power of the President is assumed, the President may assign to the High Representative, no other department; In addition, the High Representative is basically one of its Vice-Presidents. However, the Commission has the option to dismiss the High Representative, as well as other Commissioners.
Unlike national governments, mostly even have the authority to appoint the ministers of their government, the Commission in the selection of Commissioners has limited powers. Rather, the number of Commissioners is generally determined on a commissioner per country. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be nominated by the European Council; the other commissioners are nominated by the national governments of the Member States and nominated by the Council of the European Union with a qualified majority. Although the Commission may object to the appointment of a Commissioner, normally the proposals of governments but are taken without further notice. The Commissioners therefore originate mostly those parties that form the government in their respective countries. After the nomination of the Commission has yet to be confirmed by the European Parliament.
The European Council shall at the same time firmly under the approval of the Commission President, which the Commissioners is to assume the office of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; this is also one of its Vice- President. The remaining departments can distribute independently of the Commission, after the nomination of candidates, he also may appoint additional Vice- Presidents from among its commissioners. Cutting and distribution of portfolios, the Commission change at any time later.
After nomination, the newly elected European Parliament asked the candidates in detail and give an opinion, which may accept or reject as a whole (but not individual commissioners ) the Commission. After approval by the Parliament, the Commission shall be appointed by the European Council by qualified majority.
At the meetings of the European Council, the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations (G8 ) as well as at the meetings of the European Parliament, the European Commission will be represented by its President.
Appointment
The President of the European Commission is proposed in each case after the European elections by the European Council by qualified majority and then elected by the European Parliament by an absolute majority of the members. According to Article 17, paragraph " considered " 7 of the EU Treaty, the European Council in its proposal the result of the European elections. This can be understood that the Commission President should come from the European party that won the election the best result. However, the provision was introduced only by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007, so that their precise legal range is still undetermined. If the nominee, does not reach the necessary majority in Parliament, the European Council shall propose a new candidate within one month, is used for the same procedure. If Parliament has approved the candidate, he's designate, but not yet published. After the subsequent nomination of the other Commissioners, the Commission must as a whole once again provide a vote of approval by the European Parliament and is then appointed by the European Council by qualified majority. Only with this appointment is the new Commission to his office.
The term of office of the President of the Commission corresponds to the legislatures of the European Parliament, which is generally five years. An early release of the Commission President 234 TFEU is only possible through a no-confidence vote by the European Parliament against the entire Commission under Art. Come together such a motion of two-thirds of the Members of Parliament, the President must, like the other commissioners to resign. Then, a new Commission is appointed for a term up to the time take to the tenure of the ousted Commission would have taken, ie until the appointment of a new Commission after the next European elections.
The election of a President of the Commission is often preceded by a lengthy dispute over the direction of possible candidates between the Government and the European Parliament as well as the major European parties. The European Council generally prefers a personality with their own experience as head of government; the European Council is different than before the European Parliament but not necessarily interested in a "strong" personality with its own definite ideas about the development of the Union. This could be made even in the European Council in question in appropriate circumstances of the direction -determining design standards of the Government. In advance of the 2009 European election campaign for the Pre- Nomination of candidates for the Presidency of the Commission stepped through the European parties (see below).
History
The three commissions (1951-1967)
The current President of the European Commission is due to the Office of the President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC ), which had existed since 1951. From the beginning, the High Authority has also been referred to as " Commission ". The 1958 newly founded European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom ) and the European Economic Community ( EEC ) had a special commission with its own president, respectively.
The powers of the early Commission President differed from those of today still in some areas. He was initially within the Commission merely primus inter pares; he led the sessions, but had no authority to issue guidelines and could not dismiss the other Commissioners. Commission decisions were fundamentally based on the principle of collegiality. In addition, the term of office of the Commission and its President was not fixed by contract; Instead, they were each appointed for a period of Ministers adopted an ad hoc basis. The European Parliament was not initially involved in the candidate selection.
However, despite their lower formal skills, the first President of the Commission had a high impact. Often it was more famous people who were seen as representatives of European unification and a European common good above the national interests. First President of the High Authority of the ECSC was Jean Monnet, who had himself been significantly involved in the Schuman Plan for the foundation of the ECSC. First President of the EEC Commission, Walter Hallstein, who had played a central role at the Conference of Messina as a confidant of Konrad Adenauer and Secretary of State in the Foreign Office. The mid-1960s, however, it came between the europaföderalistisch oriented Hallstein and more attentive to the preservation of national sovereignty French President Charles de Gaulle to conflicts on the further development of European integration. Since Hallstein in the subsequent crisis of the empty chair ultimately did not find the support of other leaders, he entered 30 June 1967 by his office.
The Commission of the European Communities 1967-1993
Hallstein's resignation coincided with the unification of the three commissions of the ECSC, EEC and Euratom by the merger agreement. Although therefore the responsibility of the new Commission, which is renamed the " Commission of the European Communities " or " Commission " adopted, and its President has been extended formally, the influence of the following Commission President went back sooner. Usually they only had very short tenures; in the public eye, they were displaced by the new onset of Summit of Heads of State and Government in the European Council. In addition, the 1970s and early 1980s were a period of crisis in any case for European integration ( the so-called Euro-sclerosis ). Various initiatives by Roy Jenkins ( President 1977-1981 ) to revive the integration as failed due to the veto of Margaret Thatcher in the European Council.
Only after 1984, the Commission won back a more important role, with the Commission President Jacques Delors ( 1985-1995 ) occupied a central role. So he initiated the project, among other things, to complete the European internal market by 1993 and suggested the so-called Delors Plan, which laid the foundation for 1992 in the Treaty of Maastricht agreed European Economic and Monetary Union.
The Commission of the European Union since 1993
Through the EU Treaty reforms of Amsterdam in 1997 and Nice in 2001 the powers of the President of the Commission have been strengthened. He now had the appointment of the commissioners approve, could even distribute the departments under them and ask them to resign. At the same time the European Parliament has now been involved in the appointment of the Commission President, so that from the appointment of the Commission President Prodi 1999, the office of the Commission were merged with those of Parliament.
However, on the following Delors Commission President could not continue the momentum for a more active role of the European Commission. As a successor for the Frenchman Delors was in 1994 ( with British support ) first Dutch Premier Ruud Lubbers talking (on a socialist politician from a large Member State should once again a member of the Christian Democratic Party family, also follow from a smaller Member State). Lubbers was rejected at the appropriate recruitment agencies in the European Council by the German side. The alternative proposal by Chancellor Kohl, the Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, then failed, inter alia, the British veto. That are present in the European Council leaders finally agreed on a compromise candidate Jacques Santer, the Luxembourg prime minister.
In 1999, the former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, after the rather lackluster tenure Jacques Santer, who was ultimately failed because of the corruption scandal involving the French Commissioner Edith Cresson, was elected president of the Commission. Even this, as well as his successor elected in 2004, José Manuel Barroso ( since 2004) are often considered rather weak President.
The appointment of a successor by Romano Prodi in 2004 was particularly interesting because important social democratic-led national governments faced (eg, Gerhard Schröder, Tony Blair and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero ) a clear majority of the conservative European People's Party in the European elections of 2004. Although the European Council was not formally obliged by the EU Treaty to take account of the election results, were the liberal Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and the social-democratic EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who were temporarily acted as candidates for partisan point of view as hopeless. After several promising, the EPP related candidates (including the Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende, the Luxembourg Jean -Claude Juncker and the Austrian Chancellor and the conservative British Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten ) had rejected a bid, proposed the influential in the EPP CDU leader Angela Merkel Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso as before candidate who finally found the most support.
Ahead of the European elections in 2009, finally, a campaign for the Pre- Nomination of candidates for the Presidency of the Commission entered through the European political parties to offer voters a visible alternative and reduce the "candidate poker " after the election. This campaign was, among other things by the Union of European Federalists supported ( UEF) and its youth organization JEF. However, only announced the EPP to support a renewed candidacy Barroso; of the other parties not presented a presidential candidate. On a party council meeting of the SPE to candidacy by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was discussed, but they failed because of the resistance of the social democratic parties in government in Spain, Portugal and the UK, who wanted to hold on to Barroso. It was not until after the election came as proposed by the European Council re -election of Barroso in fierce criticism, especially the green and social democratic, but also of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament. Now brought alternative candidates like Guy Verhofstadt in the debate, but without that it became apparent a majority. After concessions to Barroso's Social Democrats and the Liberals, he was finally confirmed in September 2009 by the European Parliament.
The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in 2009 and took up the contents of the failed EU Constitutional Treaty, the Commission received the policy-making powers within the Commission. In the negotiations, the European Convention 2002/ 03 was also discussed on the proposal that the Commission President as "President of the European Union " and are at the same time should be Chairman of the Commission and the European Council ( the so-called " large double hat "). This proposal, however, was ultimately dropped and instead introduced the new post of President of the European Council. This was often used as a symbolic weakening of the Commission President understood since this now - would no longer be the only prominent "face" of the European Union - in contrast to the early phase of the integration process. In November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy was appointed the first President of the Council and thus stepped up to Barroso. The EU Treaty includes however not explicitly state that in the future the offices of the Commission and Council President could be exercised in a personal union by the same person, should the European Council so decide.
Commission President in chronological order
President of the High Authority were:
President of the Commission of Euratom:
President of the Commission of the EEC (1958-1967) and the ( merged ) European Commission ( since 1967 ):