ABSTRACT
During the last two decades, the scope and the density of the European Community (EC) rules have immensely increased and its institutions have been profoundly reformed. As a consequence, prominent commentators even came to regard the EC as a ‘new’ institution (Keohane and Hoffmann 1991; Sbragia 1992a).1 In other words, it is well recognised that the EC activities have re-built the architecture of territorial rule in Western Europe (Grande 1994). To an ever growing extent, the European institutions are responsible for the authoritative allocation of values. However, there is also widespread agreement that the EC neither qualifies as a state, as it lacks legal sovereignty, nor can be reduced to an international organisation since its rules take precedence over domestic laws. Furthermore, the institutional configuration of the EC differs from both nation states and international organisations. In this sense, the European Community is a sui generis political system.
