According to the second paragraph of Article 197 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), Members of the Commission may attend all meetings and shall, at their request, be heard on behalf of the Commission. Under the consolidated Treaty of Lisbon, the first paragraph of Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) would shorten this to: The Commission m...

There is widespread coverage of EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton’s confirmation hearing in front of the European Parliament yesterday, with the Telegraph reporting that MEPs and diplomats have warned that Baroness Ashton’s political inexperience has allowed the European Commission to seize control of Europe's foreign policy from national governments.

The “institutional triangle” of the European Union ─ the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament ─ needs internal cooperation to function properly. The treaties define the competences of the European Union (European Community) as a whole and assign the roles to the players, but much of their interaction is left unregulated at this level. The institutions have therefore ...

The European Union launches the final phase of building its new-look leadership team on Monday when legislators start to grill 26 nominees to the next European Commission to assess their suitability for office

This is the official website of the European Commission's Delegation to Georgia and Armenia. Its role is to engage in diplomacy with the region by presenting, explaining and implementing the European Union's policy. The website provides free access to press releases, policy statements and reports from the delegation. These provide detailed information on EU relations with Georgia and Arm...

Yes, another useful crisis. Reports the Wall Street Journal, the European Commission criticized airport operators in western Europe for being ill-prepared to cope with bad weather. The commission, the European Union's executive arm, may draft new rules if airport operators can't voluntarily take action to plan better for severe weather, Siim Kallas, the commission's transport-policy...

An European Policy Institutes Network report compiled by national experts from 25 EU member states has concluded that the European Commission has been "politically weakened" under President José Manuel Barroso's stewardship. "A picture emerges of a European Commission that has become politically weakened vis-à-vis the other institutions and in the Union as a whole." The report states that the "d...

European Union countries should hand the European Commission powers to coordinate gas flows in the 27-member bloc in the event of a gas crisis, according to a draft Commission report.

Despite Gordon's claims to the contrary, nobody seems to believe him that Britain is "best placed to weather the global financial turbulence", not the currency markets, not foreign investors and nor now the European Commission. The FT reports that the Commission is forecasting EU growth will slow from 1.4% cent this year to just 0.2% in 2009, while the eurozone economy would expand by 1.2% this ye...

The preambles of existing and future treaties mention economic and social progress among the main reasons for European integration. The Commission has a treaty obligation to report annually on the achievement of the social policy objectives and on the demographic situation in the European Community (European Union). We look at the relevant provisions of the current Treaty establishing the European...