Federation
A federation is a state where power is divided between the federal and the provincial or regional level and where the provinces, states or Länder (as in Germany) do not have absolute independence.
The EU is a hybrid of a federation and Confederation. Its constituent Member States have handed control over large areas of economic, social and political life to the supra-national EU institutions. But they remain equal to one another in the areas where they still retain exclusive power to decide policy.
Notes
- The EU has had federal state features from 1964, as shown by the primacy of EU law over national law in any case of conflict as dicided by the Court of Justice.
- The word "federal" was deleted from the draft Treaty of Maastricht in 1991 as being too politically sensitive.
- During the Convention negotiations, the Union was said to "administer certain competence on a federal basis". This expression has now been changed to "community method". The relations between the EU and its member states are currently being dealt with under Art. 6 TEU and 5 TEC. Following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, these will be dealt with in Art. 4 and 5 in TEU. The Lisbon Treaty would give the European Union, as distinct from the European Community, legal personality and a distinct corporate existence for the first time and a number of other federal-style features.
- The supra-national policy areas have been continually extended in each new EU treaty.
