The European Commission is responsible for defending the general interests of the Community, and for ensuring that EU law is both observed and developed where necessary.
The Commission's reputation as the driving force of the Community has much to do with its influence in the legislative process. It has the exclusive right to propose legislation, which means that, in matters relating to the European Community (the first pillar of the EU Treaty), the Council can generally only act on the basis of a Commission proposal, although it can call on the Commission to present proposals. The Commission also has considerable scope to shape policies later in the legislative process. The Commission shares the right of initiative in the common foreign and security policy (second pillar) and in police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (third pillar) with the Member States, and plays a lesser role in the further course of the legislative process in these areas.
As "guardian of the Treaties" the Commission is responsible under the first pillar for monitoring the application of Community law. In this capacity, it can, for example, bring infringement proceedings against Member States before the European Court of Justice.
At Community level, the Commission is the institution primarily responsible for implementing Community law and it is exclusively responsible for executing the Community budget.
The Commission "college", or body of Commissioners, is composed of 27 members (one for each Member State), who are required to exercise their functions completely independently of their national Governments during their five-year term. The college as a whole must be confirmed by the European Parliament, which also has the power to dismiss the former by a vote of no confidence.
As external representative of the Commission, the Commission President has a particularly important political role. For this reason, he is also a fully-fledged member of the European Council.
The Commission as the body of Commissioners is to be distinguished from the administrative structure underpinning it, which is made up of several directorates-general and services.
