A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
B
Beneficiary An operator, body or firm, whether public or private, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing
operations. In the context of aid schemes under Article 87 of the Treaty, beneficiaries are public or private
firms carrying out an individual project and receiving public aid;
E
EBRD European bank for Recovery and Development
EC European Commission
EIF European Investment Fund
ERDF European Regional Development Fund
ESF European Social Fund
EU Europen Union
European Commission

The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. Alongside the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, it is one of the three main institutions governing the Union.

Its primary roles are to propose and implement legislation, and to act as 'guardian of the treaties' which provide the legal basis for the EU. The role of the European Commission has many parallels with the executive body of a national government, but also differences (see below for details).

The Commission consists of 27 Commissioners, one from each member state of the EU supported by an administrative body of about 23,000 European civil servants divided into departments called Directorate-General. The term "the Commission" is generally used to refer both to the administrative body in its entirety, and to the team of Commissioners who lead it.

Unlike the Council of the European Union, the Commission is intended to be a body independent of member states. Commissioners are therefore not permitted to take instructions from the government of the country that appointed them, but are supposed to represent the interests of the citizens of the EU as a whole.

The Commission is headed by a President (currently José Manuel Durão Barroso). Its headquarters are located in Brussels, in a building known as the Berlaymont, and its working languages are English, French and German.

 
European Social Fund Set up by the Treaty of Rome, the ESF is the European Union's main tool for the development of human resources and the improvement of the workings of the labour market. Its aim is to improve the prospects of those who face the greatest obstacles in finding, keeping or regaining work.
European Union

The European Union (EU) is a sui generis supranational and intergovernmental union of 27 states. It was established in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (The Maastricht Treaty), and is the de facto successor to the six-member European Economic Community founded in 1957. Since then new accessions have raised its number of member states, and competences have expanded. The EU is the current stage of a continuing open-ended process of European integration.

The EU is one of the largest economic and political entities in the world, with 493 million people and a combined nominal GDP of ?11.5 (.2) trillion in 2006.[1] The Union is a single market with a common trade policy,[2] a Common Agricultural/Fisheries Policy, and a Regional policy to assist poorer regions.[3] It introduced a single currency, the euro, adopted by 13 member states. The EU initiated a limited Common Foreign and Security Policy, and a limited Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters.

Important EU institutions and bodies include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Justice, and the European Parliament. Citizens of EU member states are also EU citizens: they directly elect the European Parliament, once every five years. They can live, travel, work, and invest in other member states (with some restrictions on new member states). Passport control and customs checks at most internal borders were abolished by the Schengen Agreement.[4]