The Strengthening of the Commission Competences by the Constitutional Treaty and the Principle of Balance of Power

A lot has been written about the European Commission as the main administrative institution of the European Community: about its work, competences, its organisational problems and the administrative reform initiated by President Prodi after the resignation en masse of the Commission of President Jaques Santer. This paper will, therefore, not attempt to repeat what has been explained about an institution which has been the motor of European integration representing the Community interest against the national interests of the Member States of the European Union. The aim of this paper is to analyse the reform of the Commission in the context of the work on the Treaty to establish a Constitution for Europe (hereinafter the Constitutional Treaty) and the potential effect of the strengthening of the Commission in the European constitutional process with regard to the principle of the balance of powers among the Community institutions. The new powers of control of the European Parliament with respect to the Commission, along with the Commission's political accountability to the European Parliament at constitutional level, are decisive factors which lead to the conclusion that there is no immediate risk of an infringement of the principle of the balance of powers by the constitutional process.