Within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, 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 The Secretariat of the European Parliament is the administrative body of the European Parliament headed by a Secretary-General. It is based in the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg City and around the Brussels-Luxembourg Station in Brussels and ...

: Parliament Directorates-General. * The

General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, also known as Council Secretariat, assists the Council of the European Union, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Council and the President of the Euro ...

: Council Directorates-general. The

European Patent Office The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation

(part of the

European Patent Organisation The European Patent Organisation (sometimes abbreviated EPOrg in order to distinguish it from the European Patent Office, one of the two organs of the organisation) is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states t ...

, separate from the EU) also has

Directorates-General Within the European Union, Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility, the equivalent of Ministry (government department), ministries at a national level. Most are headed by a European Commissioner, responsible for ...

, 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