European Commission - History

History

European Union


Politics and government of
the European Union

Parliament
  • President
    • Martin Schulz
  • Largest groups;
    • Joseph Daul: EPP
    • María Badía (Interim): S&D
  • 7th session
    • MEPs (736)
      • 2009-14 term
  • Bureau
    • Vice Presidents
    • Quaestor
  • Conference
  • Legislative procedure
European Council
  • President
    • Herman Van Rompuy
  • Parties
  • List of meetings
Council
  • Presidency
    • Cyprus
  • Configurations
    • General
    • Foreign
    • Economic
      • Euro
  • Legislative procedure
  • Voting
  • Secretariat
    • Secretary-General
      • Uwe Corsepius
    • COREPER
Commission
  • Barroso Comm.
  • President
    • José M. Barroso
  • Vice Presidents
    • Catherine Ashton
    • Viviane Reding
    • Joaquín Almunia
    • Siim Kallas
    • Neelie Kroes
    • Antonio Tajani
    • Maroš Šefčovič
    • Commissioners
    • Civil Service
    • Secretary-General
    • Catherine Day
Court of Justice
  • Court of Justice
  • General Court
  • Civil Service Tribunal
  • Members
  • Rulings
Central Bank
  • Central Bank
    • President
    • ESCB
    • Euro
    • EMU
    • Eurozone
Court of Auditors
  • Court of Auditors
    • Budget
    • OLAF]
Agencies
  • Agencies
Other bodies
  • Investment Bank
  • CoR
  • EESC
  • Ombudsman
  • National parliaments
Policies and issues
  • Budget
  • Four Freedoms
    • Economic area
    • Single market
    • Area of FS&J
    • Schengen
  • Policies
    • Agricultural
    • Energy
    • Fisheries
    • Regional
  • Citizenship
    • Identity
    • Pro-Europeanism
    • Euroscepticism
  • Integration
    • Supranationalism
    • Federalism
    • U.S.E.
    • Multi-speed
    • Opt-outs
    • Enhanced co-op
    • Withdrawal
Foreign relations
  • High Representative
    • Catherine Ashton
  • Ext. Action Service
  • Foreign Policy
  • Defence Policy
  • Enlargement
Elections
  • 1979, 1984, 1989
    1994, 1999, 2004
  • 2009 (last election)
  • 2014 (next election)
  • Political parties
  • Constituencies
  • Referendums
Law
  • Acquis
    • Primacy
    • Subsidiarity
  • Treaties
  • Fundamental Rights
  • Membership

The European Commission derives from one of the five key institutions created in the supranational European Community system, following the proposal of Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, on 9 May 1950. Originating in 1951 as the High Authority in the European Coal and Steel Community, the Commission has undergone numerous changes in power and composition under various Presidents, involving three Communities.

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    History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.
    —E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)

    No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.
    Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)

    So in accepting the leading of the sentiments, it is not what we believe concerning the immortality of the soul, or the like, but the universal impulse to believe, that is the material circumstance, and is the principal fact in this history of the globe.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)