Jan 8 (Reuters) - The European Parliament holds hearings next week to consider nominations for top posts in the new European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-member European Union.
Following are some facts about the Commission:
-- The European Commission is the body responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, drawing up the EU budget and the day-to-day running of the bloc. It is intended to be an independent, supranational body that acts in the interests of Europe.
-- It is composed of 27 commissioners, one from each member state, headed by a president. They are nominated by the Council of member states in agreement with the Commission president and must be approved by the European Parliament. They serve a five-year term.
-- The commissioners have a function similar to government ministers. They are responsible for departments, such as agriculture, energy, trade, economy, and foreign affairs, that are run on similar lines to ministries. They are based at the Berlaymont building in Brussels and presided over by Jose Manuel Barroso, a former prime minister of Portugal, who has served as president of the Commission since 2004.
-- The Commission is the only body in the EU empowered to initiate legislation, a monopoly questioned by some, who argue that the elected European Parliament should have the same right.
-- The Commission does not legislate on foreign and security policy, which remains the preserve of member states. Commission legislative proposals have traditionally focused on economic regulation or health and the environment.
-- While each commissioner is appointed by his or her national government, they are required to represent the interests of the EU as a whole, rather than individual member states.
-- Approval of the Commission by parliament is not a foregone conclusion. Barroso was forced to withdraw his original 2004 team after parliament's Civil Liberties Committee rejected Italy's Rocco Buttiglione, who had caused controversy by calling homosexuality a sin and marriage an institution for women to have babies and be protected by men.
-- The parliament also flexed its muscles in 1999, forcing the entire Commission led by former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jacques Santer to resign after an independent report accused it of fraud, nepotism and losing control over its huge bureaucracy.
-- The Commission has a staff of 38,000 and annual administrative expenses of 3.3 billion euros ($4.7 billion). Commissioners are the highest-paid officials. The Commission president receives a basic monthly salary of 24,874 euros and ordinary commissioners 20,278 euros. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Andrew Dobbie)