THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION Cover Image

ЕВРОПСКА КОМИСИЈА
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Author(s): Zoran Radivojević
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, International Law, EU-Legislation
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Нишу
Keywords: the European Union; the European Commission; independence; supra-nationalism; initiative; supervision; enforcement; proposing; decision-making

Summary/Abstract: The European Commission is a significant novelty in the field of permanent organization of international cooperation. The powers it has been assigned within the European Union and the independent status it enjoys in respect of other member states •make it quite a specific body without precedent in the history of international organizations. Hence, there is no common attitude or unified standpoint in view of the legal nature of the Commission.On the one hand, there is an assertion that the European Commission is a political and supranational body, or a body with federal elements, even some kind of the European government. On the other hand, the Commission is said to be an independent body that has a technical, administrative or executive character. In the background of these differences, there are two diametrically opposite points of view on the Commission. In the former, it is seen through the prism of the separation of the governing powers into the legislative, the executive and the judicial; thus, considering the nature of its entailing functions, it is proclaimed to be the executive body. Hie proponents of the opposite approach perceive the Commission as a typical international organization; primarily due to its structure, it is therefore qualified as an enforcement body. The European Commission is, by its nature, a hybrid institution and represents a combination of administrative, executive and legislative components. It first has the role of a decision-proposing body and the initiator of the European integration. Concurrently, the Commission is a supervisory and enforcement body which secures the application of the communitarian law (aquis communautaire) and sees to the enforcement of decisions of other bodies. Besides, the Commission has a character of a legislative body which in certain cases can dispose of the original or delegated decision-making rights.The Agreement on the Constitution for Europe, signed in Rome on 29th October 2004, contains significant changes in respect of the Commission structure, the conditions and proceedings for the appointment and selection of its members, the authorities and the nomination of the Commission Chairperson. In addition, there is a completely new office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Union. Hie authority of the Commission to initiate solutions in the legislative proceedings has been slightly expanded and partly changed, which also applies to the fields of common foreign and security policy as well as police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

  • Issue Year: XLVI/2005
  • Issue No: 46
  • Page Range: 73-98
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Serbian