The Commission is basically two completely different things. Actually it’s probably more than two things, but the way we often talk about it, it plays two key roles.

One is that of a bureaucratic body that runs the union, delegates funds, oversees the implementation of EU legislation, submits observations to cases before the CJEU, posts content to @[email protected], and that kind of jazz. This is where there’s a huge number of employees, and it’s where a lot of EU funds are spent. We probably wouldn’t be talking here if it wasn’t for the Next Generation Internet programme, which is a part of Horizon Europe, which is seen as a scientific research initiative. So the Fediverse has a pretty direct relationship to things going on in the bureaucracy that I assume is positioned under the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

This is, however, largely bureaucratic. Doesn’t mean it’s not important, but it’s not where the juicy political decisions are made.

The other role is that of a executive body. In the separation of powers in the EU,

In its executive role, budget and staff might matter less. What matters is the political deals you can strike. Resources might help you craft better proposals that the Council and Parliament then needs to accept before it can be signed off to law, but the relationship to resources here is not that obvious.

Then again, another bureaucratic role of the Commission is when power has been delegated to it to decide on a specific area, for example how to regulate a specific type of products. This is bureaucratic as hell, but it also gives direct decision-making power to the Commission to just decide pretty much as they please within a limited competence. So bureaucrats could absolutely mean power as well, albeit maybe not a very sexy type of power.