requires other forms of cooperation. This could mean cooperation in the field of
transportation, which again requires other forms of cooperation such as in the fields
of road construction and maintenance, which in turn requires...etc. More gener-
ally, the idea is that the functions fulfilled by states are not independent from each
other and that cooperation in the performance of one function “spills over” into
cooperation in the performance of other functions, until finally...
And it is here that opinions diverge. Some hope and expect that the only way to
realize cooperation in one important function inevitably leads to cooperation in
(almost) all important state functions, which would in the end require political
cooperation and perhaps also federalization. Others expect and hope that coopera-
tion on one task can be kept isolated from other tasks and can be controlled by
national states that can decide case by case whether and to what extent additional
cooperation is desirable. The idea that full integration would be the outcome of a
process of spillover from integration for one or more limited state functions has
become known as the “functional method of integration.”
Overview More than one perspective is required for a proper understanding of the
EU. For instance, it is useful to know a little about historical development, at least
from the origin of the ECSC to the EU in its present state. A brief overview of this
development is provided in Sect.10.2.
At the basis of the EU lies the vision that economic cooperation and European
integration prevent war. This cooperation started with regard to coal and steel but
soon broadened into the creation of one internal market. What the internal market
amounts to is the topic of Sect.10.5.
From the perspective of lawyers, history and economy may be important, but a
lawyer’s main focus stays on the law. The law of Europe has two sides. One side,
addressed in Sect.10.5, regulates the internal market; the other side regulates the
EU itself and, in particular, its institutions. These institutions, their functions, and
their powers are briefly discussed in Sect.10.3, which deals with the sources of EU
law, and Sect.10.4, which deals with the EU institutions.
The final question that needs to be addressed is what this very development of
the EU ultimately amounts to. In the final section, Sect.10.6, recent developments
around the “eurocrisis” are used to illustrate how spillover works and what its
consequences are. It raises the question of whether the approach to European
integration through an ever-expanding economic integration is desirable.
10.2 From ECSC to EU
10.2.1 The ECSC
The development that led to the EU started with the ECSC. The ECSC was founded
in 1951 by six states: the German Federal Republic (West Germany), France, Italy,
the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The organization had four institutions,
counterparts of which are still present in the EU.
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