ABSTRACT
The EC’s central policy activity is regulation rather than distribution or redistribution: its expenditure, revenues and staffing have remained small compared to those of national governments. In contrast, its regulatory role has grown rapidly between the 1980s and today, as part of a general trend towards the ‘regulatory state’ in Europe (cf. Majone 1996, Héritier and Thatcher 2002, Moran 2002). The EC has extended its activities into new policy areas and deepened its role in its existing policy domains. Aided by the doctrine of legal supremacy of Community law, it has become a prominent source of regulation.
