Supranational union
[1] The European Union (EU) has been described as a paradigmatic case of a supranational organization,[2] as it has deep political, economic and social integration, which includes a common market, joint border control, a supreme court, and regular popular elections.
This is enshrined in the Europe Declaration made on 18 April 1951, the same day as the European Founding Fathers signed the Treaty of Paris.
[6] "By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organised Europe.
This declaration of principles that included their judgement for the necessary future developments was signed by Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), Paul van Zeeland and Joseph Meurice (Belgium), Robert Schuman (France), Count Sforza (Italy), Joseph Bech (Luxembourg), and Dirk Stikker and Jan van den Brink (The Netherlands).
It was made to recall future generations to their historic duty of uniting Europe based on liberty and democracy under the rule of law.
Thus, they viewed the creation of a wider and deeper Europe as intimately bound to the healthy development of the supranational or Community system.
[2] The European Economic Community was described by its founder Robert Schuman as midway between confederalism which recognises the complete independence of states in an association and federalism which seeks to fuse them in a super-state.
[2] The supranational Community also has a chamber for organised civil society including economic and social associations and regional bodies.
However, the differences in scale become apparent if one compares the United States federal budget with the budget of the European Union (which amounts only to about one percent of combined GDP) or the size of the federal civil service of the United States with the Civil Service of the European Union.
The six founder States (France, Italy, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) agreed on the goal: making "war not only unthinkable but materially impossible".
The five institutions (besides the High Authority) were a Consultative Committee (a chamber representing civil society interests of enterprises, workers and consumers), a parliament, and a Council of government ministers.
Opposition, mainly by enterprises which had to pay a small European tax of less than 1% and government ministers in the council, led to its democratic mandate not being renewed.
De Gaulle attempted to turn the European Commission into a political secretariat under his control in the Fouchet Plan but this move was thwarted by such democrats in the Benelux countries as Paul-Henri Spaak, Joseph Luns and Joseph Bech as well as a large wave of other pro-Europeans in all the Community countries.
Two pillars governing External policy and Justice and Home affairs are not subject to the same democratic controls as the Community system.
This moves the project from full democratic supranationalism in the direction of not just intergovernmentalism but the politicisation of the institutions, and control by two or three major party political organisations.
The Commission defines key legal aspects of the supranational system because its members must be independent of commercial, labour, consumer, political or lobby interests (Article 9 of the Paris Treaty).
(The original concept was that the commission should act as a single impartial college of independent, experienced personalities having public confidence.
Schuman wrote in his book, Pour l'Europe[12] (For Europe), that in a democratic supranational Community "the Councils, committees and other organs should be placed under the control of public opinion that was effectual without paralysing their activity nor useful initiatives".
In the Lisbon Treaty, the distribution of competences in various policy areas between member states and the European Union is redistributed in three categories.
