Introduction

A feature of the European Union is that, unlike other international organisations, its business is not carried out through diplomacy and ad hoc negotiation. Instead, the European Union is characterised by a number of institutions and procedures. Even a brief account of the European Union must discuss at least six central institutions: the Council, the Parliament, the Commission, the European Council, the Court of Justice and the European Central Bank. Yet the European Union's institutional settlement is an unusual one. Its organising principle is not the separation of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary. Instead, its central concern is to secure the representation of different interests and a balance between them. Each institution has to be viewed in terms of the interests it represents, and the balance between institutions has also to be considered in terms of the balance between these different interests. Put crudely, in areas where national sovereignty is valued, one would expect the interests of national governments to be emphasised. In areas where extensive Community action is sought, one would suppose supranational institutions to be more influential.

Even if the Union's institutional settlement has to accommodate a particularly broad array of interests, it still legislates, administers and adjudicates. The legitimacy of these processes also has to be assessed according to the same standards that one would apply to any government. There is, thus, a second level of analysis that must be applied to the institutions, namely that of more general standards of legitimacy.