A European Commissioner is a member of the 28-member European Commission. Each Member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio, and the Commission is led by thePresident of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent of national ministers
Each Commissioner is first nominated by their member state in consultation with the Commission President, although the President holds little practical power to force a change in candidate. .
The more capable the candidate is, the more likely the Commission President will assign them a powerful portfolio, the distribution of which is entirely at his discretion. The President's team is then subject to hearings at the European Parliament which will question them and then vote on their suitability as a whole. If members of the team are found to be inappropriate, the President must then reshuffle the team or request a new candidate from the member state or risk the whole Commission being voted down. As Parliament cannot vote against individual Commissioners there is usually a compromise whereby the worst candidates are removed but minor objections are put aside so the Commission can take office. Once the team is approved by parliament, it is formally put into office by the European Council.
It should be noted however that although Members of the Commission are allocated between member-states they do not represent their states; instead they are supposed to act in European interests.
Normally a member-state will nominate someone of the same political party as that which forms the government of the day. There are exceptions such as Member of the Commission Burke (of Fine Gael) was nominated by Taoiseach Haughey (of Fianna Fáil), or where larger states had two seats, they often went to the two major parties such as in the United Kingdom.
In addition to its role in approving a new Commission, the European Parliament has the power at any time to force the entire Commission to resign through a vote of no confidence. This requires a vote that makes up at least two-thirds of those voting and a majority of the total membership of the Parliament. While it has never used this power, it threatened to use it against the Commission headed by Jacques Santer in 1999 over allegations of corruption. In response, the Santer Commission resigneden masse of its own accord, the only time a Commission has done so.
....... European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek proposed in 2010 that Commissioners be directly elected, by member states placing their candidate at the top of their voting lists in European elections. That would give them individually, and the body as a whole, a democratic mandate.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commissioner
The European commission is little different than the manner in which the British Parliamentary system is structured; the commissioners are appointed by the member state just as the cabinet is appointed by the Prime Minister.
The main difference is that the Commission is answerable to the Union as a whole so they cannot impose any particular political party agenda.
Academic anyway, Teribus's 'Brave New World' would have us all answerable to the State (Classic Fascism by definition) , even above the interests of the individuals.
Jim Carroll