Within the European Union, Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility, the equivalent of

ministries Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

at a national level. Most are headed by a

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

, responsible for the general direction of the Directorate-General, and in charge of (i.e. politically responsible for) the corresponding policy area; and a Director-General, responsible for the management of day-to-day affairs, who reports to the

. * The Secretariat of the European Parliament: Parliament Directorates-General. * The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union: Council Directorates-general. The European Patent Office (part of the European Patent Organisation, separate from the EU) also has Directorates-General, which are administrative groupings of departments.

Directorates-General of the European Commission

The Directorates-General of the European Commission are divided into four groups: Policy DGs, External relations DGs, General Service DGs and Internal Service DGs. Internally, the DGs are referred to by their

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

s, provided below.

References

{{Eu-directorates-general *

Directorates-General of the European Commission

See also

References