ABSTRACT
Since the first European community (the ECSC) was created, the Member States have delegated various powers to a number of bodies – largely the Institutions – who organised the day-to-day ‘running’ of the Communities on their behalf. Together, these Institutions fulfil many of the functions of government, taking decisions, creating laws and spending money on a joint (EU) basis – but only in areas in which they have been provided with the specific authority to do so by the Member States. (This is known as the principle of ‘conferral’ which is set out in Arts 4 and 5 TEU. The areas in which the EU has authority are set out in Arts 3 to 6 TFEU. You are strongly advised to read these Articles in order to gain a better understanding of how power is shared.) The Member States confer competence through the various treaties and retain the power to create and amend the constitutional and substantive rules of the EU in this way, as already discussed in Chapter 2 – and of course the Member States continue to be solely responsible in all areas that lie outside the competences of the EU.
