European Commission

The European Commission is the policy-initiating engine of the European Union. The 20-member commission comes up with legislation and implements decisions and the provisions of the treaties. It also manages the budget and is the public face of the Union in international trade negotiations. The makeup of the commisson will change in 2005. Until now, the largest countries -- Spain, U.K., Italy, Germany and France -- had two commission members and the rest each had one. From 2005 on, all members will have one commissioner and the power of the commission president – who will be elected with a majority, not by a unanimous vote – will be enhanced.