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...

The gas crisis exposed the vulnerability of the European Union to outside disturbances and lack of interconnection in the energy area. What is the EC Commission doing to tackle the problems? *** The Commission’s Legislative and Work Programme 2009, Acting now for a better Europe (Brussels, 5.11.2008 COM(2008) 712 final), deals with Climate Change and Sustainable Europe as the second priority...

Baroness Ashton has been nominated as the British member of the European Commission to replace Peter Mandelson, but she’ll be in post only until the summer of 2009 as a new Commission takes office in autumn 2009 (presuming she can take even up the position). She would of course be eligible for full 5 year

Even if José Manuel Barroso happened to be the best Commission President ever, the European political families should be hard at work competing for the next five year stint at the helm of the Commission. If political parties at European level, representing 500 million EU citizens, are unable to find one qualified candidate each, they betray both their calling and the voters. However, progre...

The Rt Hon Baroness Ashton, for it is she yesterday formally announced her acceptance of he rules governing her appointment to the European Commission. SOLEMN UNDERTAKING BEFORE THE COURT OF JUSTICE BY A NEW MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION Formal sitting of 2 February 2009 Following the resignation of Mr Peter Mandelson from his duties as a member of the European Commission, the Council of the E...

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.

The Telegraph reports that the European Commission yesterday unveiled how a potential EU ‘bank tax’ would work and said the 27-member bloc would introduce the tax unilaterally, should other countries refuse to implement their own measures. The Commission document said, “Actions by the EU alone would be less effective but could be considered, particularly if there are good reasons...

Despite its intensive work on state aid rules and decisions related to the financial and economic crisis, the Commission has launched two measures aiming at general state aid reform. The European Commission has published a State Aid Simplification Package, which consists of two parts. For a quick view, see press release State aid: Commission adopts Simplification Package to accelerate state aid de...

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 European Parliament has approved the new Commission, removing the final obstacle for the 26 nominees who comprise the new college to take office