[denton-scratch]

Each country gets one or two commissioners. They are appointed by their respective national governments, subject to approval by the EU Parliament (but rejection is as rare as rocking-horse shit).

Basically, commissioners are usually former senior politicians who can no longer get elected, because they've been disgraced in some way or other. It's a sinecure.

It's almost impossible to dismiss them; the EU Parliament only has the power to dismiss the entire commission. That sounds like a nuclear option that could never be used; but is has been done, exactly once. It was over corruption; the parliament decided that essentially every commissioner was crooked.

[matthewdgreen]

As I understand it, the Parliament only gets a vote on the Commission President. The other 26 are selected by the Council of Ministers, without Parliamentary oversight.

[CrisMystik]

> The other 26 are selected by the Council of Ministers, without Parliamentary oversight.

No, after the European Parliament has approved the proposed President of the European Commission and the Council has chosen the other 26 commissioners, the Commission as a whole is subject to another vote of confidence by the European Parliament.