Learn · Institutions

Who runs the European Union

The seven institutions the treaties name, what each one does, and the people who hold office in them. Select an institution on the map to read its profile. Every name links to that person’s own official page.

People refreshed 21 September 2026 · From the institutions’ own sites

Brussels

European Commission

Proposes almost all EU legislation, carries out the budget, and enforces the treaties, taking member states to court when they break EU law. Each of the 27 members holds a portfolio; together they are the College, appointed for five years.

College: 27 members, one per country, for five years
Proposes: Laws and the annual budget

The College, 27 members

Select a name for their official profile

Sources

College of Commissioners
The 27 members of the Commission, their portfolios and their profile pages.
European Commission · Retrieved 21 September 2026
European Parliament open data — current MEPs
The 718 sitting MEPs, with country and political group.
European Parliament · Retrieved 21 September 2026
European Parliament open data, free to reuse with attribution
EU Whoiswho — the official directory of the European Union
Office holders in the European Council (29), the Council of the EU (1037 national ministers) and the European Court of Auditors (27), read from the Publications Office SPARQL endpoint.
Publications Office of the European Union · Retrieved 21 September 2026
European Central Bank — decision-making bodies
The 33 members of the Executive Board, the Governing Council and the General Council, with their posts and official portraits.
European Central Bank · Retrieved 21 September 2026
Court of Justice of the European Union — members
The 90 members of the Court of Justice and the General Court, with their posts and official portraits.
Court of Justice of the European Union · Retrieved 21 September 2026

Notes

Names, titles and profile links are taken from the institutions themselves by npm run data:institutions, never typed in by hand.
The Commission, the Parliament, the European Central Bank and the Court of Justice publish their members in a form a script can read, with portraits. Their own pages are read directly. The European Council, the Council of the EU and the Court of Auditors do not, so their people come from EU Whoiswho, the Publications Office’s official directory, which carries names and posts but no portrait and no profile page.
People change: a resignation or reshuffle shows here only after the next refresh. The date above says when that was.
Portraits are shown as published by the institutions themselves and loaded from their own sites. The European Council, the Council and the Court of Auditors publish none, so their people get a neutral icon.
What the institutions do, and how they work together, is explained in more depth in the guide to the EU.