Let’s start with the basics.
what happened?
Ursula von der Leyen was elected to a second term as president of the European Commission in July (more on that later). The former German defense minister has held the position since 2019, thanks to a backroom deal between then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who plucked von der Leyen out of relative obscurity and into perhaps the most important job in Europe (which may not be entirely democratic, but that’s a story for another time).
On Tuesday, she announced her new top team: a motley mix of 26 candidates representing EU countries, plus Germany’s von der Leyen, who will be tasked with implementing the European Commission president’s vision for the next five years.
What is the role of the European Commission?
The EU has three main institutions: the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. (As you will soon discover, there is also a European Council, but it is not the same as the Council of the European Union, which understandably frustrates you.)
The Commission is run by a 27-member team called the Commissioners’ College, which is not a teaching body but oversees 32,000 staff across Europe and the world.
The European Commission does a lot of different things, like preparing the annual budget for the European Union, making sure that countries implement EU laws like banning travel fees for mobile phones and standardizing USB chargers, and, as you know, making sure that fundamental human rights and the rule of law are respected, and other important things too.