The edifice
of the European Union (EU) has been built on the basis of equilibrium between intergovernmental
co-operation and supranationalism. In other words, the fathers of Europe wanted
to attain integration through the institution of organs which would be
representative of the two currents: institutions with an intergovernmental
character, through which the voice of the Member-States could be heard, and
institutions with a supranational character, which would represent Europe, as a
potentially integrated entity, with its own interests and expectations. In the
first category, the central institution is the Council of Ministers, which
functions with the presence of national Ministers, depending on the
subject-matter of the agenda, while in the second category the main organs are
the Commission and the European Parliament. The Courts, finally, settle
disputes in a spirit of supranationalism, and in this direction they have
offered their good offices to integration.
