ABSTRACT
The Treaty represented a compromise between the federalists (those who wanted to move towards a more integrated union with greater centralised power) and intergovernmentalists – those wishing to retain the powers of the Member States and limit the power transferred to the EC. It needs to be understood that, in the development of the Union, there has been exhibited a constant tension between those Member States who see the movement towards almost total political and economic union, whereby the Union would take on the characteristics of a federal state, and those Member States (particularly the United Kingdom) who have reservations about greater fusion in Europe and wish to retain a higher degree of autonomy from Europe than the federalists would wish to see.
