The European Community appeared as a supra-national organization after World War Ⅱ. The purpose of this thesis is to observe this supra-nationality of the European Community and its meaning on the traditional international law.
The supra-national c...
The European Community appeared as a supra-national organization after World War Ⅱ. The purpose of this thesis is to observe this supra-nationality of the European Community and its meaning on the traditional international law.
The supra-national character of the European Community can be observed from two points of view, organizational and legal, as the Treaties establishing it are both organizational and normative.
From the organizational point of view, it is supranational in its composition, power, and voting systems of its organs.
First, the organs of European Community are composed of people who are concerned only for the interests of the Community and act independently without receiving and order or interference from the Member States. The only exception is the Council which is composed of the Ministers of the Member States.
Second, the Community has its own decision-making power which is exercised mainly by the Council, and its policy is executed through its own organ, the Commission. The Court of Justice has compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction over various kinds of actions. The Assembly has supervisory and advisory competence and some substantial budgetary power.
Third, the Council, which is inter-governmental organ, has both majority voting system and weighted voting system. These voting systems show the most conspicuous supra-national character in the European Community.
The Community legal order also shows high supra-nationality.
First, the Community has its own, namely secondary, sources of law besides the primary sources of law, the Treaties and Conventions concluded among the Member States. No other international organization has its own legal sources comparable to these.
Second, the Community Treaties are self-executing and all Community Law has direct effect upon individuals of Member States including both natural and legal person. This means the recognition of individual as the subject of international law.
Third, Community Law has supremacy over the national law of the Member States. This supremacy is based on the ruling by the Community Court that Community constitutes a new legal order in international law, for whose benefit Member States limited and transferred their sovereigh right in a limited field.
Thus observed, European Community has supra-national character both in its organizational and legal aspect, which no other precedent in international organizations comparable to can be found.
European Community, though it has its own limitations and is faced with resistance from national sovereignty, is the most supra-national organization in the world and marks a new phase in the evolution of international law.