page_title: European Commission
section_title: Press
hierarchical_section_title: European Commission / Administration / Press
caption_attribution_description: Press room of the European Commission inside the Berlaymont building, Brussels. Taken on EU open day 2007.
context_page_description: The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commissioners are proposed by the Council of the European Union, on the basis of suggestions made by the national governments, and then appointed by the European Council after the approval of the European Parliament. It is common, although not a formal requirement, that the commissioners have previously held senior political positions, such as being a member of the European Parliament or a government minister.
  This EU institution operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission. There is one member per member state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 27 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament.
context_section_description: Communication with the press is handled by the Directorate-General Communication. The Commission's chief spokesperson is Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen who takes the midday press briefings, commonly known as the "Midday Presser". It takes place every weekday in the Commission's press room at the Berlaymont where journalists may ask questions of Commission officials on any topic and legitimately expect to get an "on the record" answer for live TV. Such a situation is unique in the world.
  It has been noted by one researcher that the press releases issued by the Commission are uniquely political. A release often goes through several stages of drafting which emphasises the role of the Commission and is used "for justifying the EU and the commission" increasing their length and complexity. Where there are multiple departments involved a press release can also be a source of competition between areas of the Commission and Commissioners themselves. This also leads to an unusually high number of press releases, 1907 for 2006, and is seen as a unique product of the EU's political set-up. The number of Commission press releases shows a decreasing trend. 1768 press releases were published in 2010 and 1589 in 2011.
  There is a larger press corps in Brussels than Washington, D.C.; in 2007, media outlets in every Union member-state had a Brussels correspondent. However, following the global downturn, the press corps in Brussels shrunk by a third by 2010. There is one journalist covering EU news for Latvia and none for Lithuania. Although there has been a worldwide cut in journalists, the considerable press releases and operations such as Europe by Satellite and EuroparlTV leads many news organisations to believe they can cover the EU from these source and news agencies. In the face of high-level criticism, the Commission shut down Presseurop on 20 December 2013.
caption: Press Room in the Berlaymont
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