Ursula von der Leyen in India: How powerful is the European Commission? – Firstpost

India and the European Union (EU) are expected to announce a “historic” free trade agreement by Tuesday (January 27), which has already been dubbed “the mother of all deals”. European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were the chief guests at India’s Republic Day Parade 2026.

Ahead of the expected trade deal, von der Leyen stated that a “successful India” makes the world more “stable, prosperous, and secure”. The pact could expand bilateral trade between India and the EU.

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts von der Leyen and Costa for the India-European Union summit talks tomorrow, we take a look at the European Commission and its powers.

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What is the European Commission?

The European Commission is the main executive body of the European Union (EU). Its main roles include proposing novel laws and policies, monitoring their implementation and managing the EU budget.

As per its website, the Commission, based in Brussels, also “ensures that EU policies and laws are correctly applied across Member States, negotiates international agreements on behalf of the EU, and allocates funding.”

Besides the Commission, the EU’s other key six institutions are:

• the European Parliament
• the Council of the EU
• the European Council
• the Court of Justice of the EU
• the European Central Bank
• the European Court of Auditors

What powers does the European Commission have?

The European Commission is the only EU body to propose laws for adoption by the Parliament and the Council. It develops laws for member states and enforces them.

Once its proposals get the nod from the European Parliament and a council of 27 ministers from the EU states, they can become law.

It also prepares annual budgets for approval by the Council and Parliament, and supervises budget implementation. It can take legal action if member states fail to adhere to its laws.

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The Commission acts as the EU’s representative in certain global bodies and forums, and negotiates international agreements, such as trade policies.

It is politically independent of the member states.

The European Commission has enhanced its crackdown against Big Tech in recent years. It has initiated an investigation into Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on X over sexual deepfake images of women and children.

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Last December, it launched a formal antitrust investigation into Google’s use of online content to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models and generate overviews on search results pages.

Who makes up the European Commission?

The Commission consists of 27 Commissioners, one from each EU state. The body is headed by a President.

In this role, von der Leyen is responsible for the organisation of the Commission and allocating portfolios to individual Commissioners. She also decides the Commission’s policy agenda, along with representing the body at European Council meetings, G7 and G20 summits, summits with non-EU countries and major debates in the European Parliament and the Council.

All 27 Commissioners are allotted a specific portfolio, similarly like ministers.

The Commissioners and the President of the Commission comprise the College of Commissioners. The European Commission president appoints the Vice-President of the College, who is usually the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

After the European Parliament elections, the European Council proposes a candidate for President of the Commission. The nominee typically belongs to the political group with the largest representation in Parliament.

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The Parliament has to approve the recent president by an absolute majority, before their formal appointment by the European Council.

The president-elect then appoints 26 of the 27 commissioners. The last person is the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who is appointed by the European Council with the approval of the Commission President.

The sovereignty question

Sovereignty empowers a country to make its own decisions, without interference from a foreign nation. A sovereign country is free to make its own laws and policies, while no other nation can interfere in its domestic affairs.

However, sovereignty has never been completely practised by the world. As the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) noted, countries involved with multilateral organisations agree to “forfeit their right to set their own rules and instead delegate specific powers to those bodies in return for the benefits of international cooperation.”

In the case of the EU, the bloc offers freedom of trade and travel to its twenty-seven member countries. Workers, goods, capital, and services can move freely within the bloc’s borders.

The EU runs a single market, which means an economic zone with the same set of regulations and zero internal trade barriers. It also has a visa-free area called the Schengen zone.

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The EU negotiates trade deals as a bloc, giving an advantage to European countries over bigger economies.

Monetary policy, trade, and fishing are controlled by the EU. Decisions concerning defence and security are taken by the EU and national governments.

In matters of health care, education, and tourism, the EU only supports national governments through funding or laying down guidelines.

However, the bloc has been criticised for its perceived overreach over its member states. Brussels, the headquarters of the European Commission, is viewed as a nanny state, an overbearing authority encroaching on sovereignty, according to CFR.

The UK’s exit from the bloc over sovereignty concerns had dealt a harsh blow to the Union.

With the rise of the far-right across Europe, Euroscepticism, or scepticism or opposition to the European Union and its powers, has also grown.

The challenges remain before the EU, which will have to face the sovereignty question sooner or later.

With inputs from agencies

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