ABSTRACT
Since the first European Community (the ECSC) was created, the Member States have delegated powers to a number of supranational institutions who ‘run’ the Communities on their behalf. Together, these institutions fulfil the functions of government of the Community, taking decisions, creating laws and spending money on a joint (Community), rather than individual (State) basis, but only in areas in which they have been provided with the authority to do so. The Member States still retain the power to create and amend the constitutional rules of the EU, as has been done through a variety of Treaties, such as the TEU, the ToA and the ToN, and they continue to be solely responsible in areas that lie outside the competence of the EC.
