You may find more on the official website of the EU !!!!!!!! http:// www.europa.eu.int
Pillars of the European Union
The concept of "pillars" is generally used in connection with the Treaty on European Union. Three pillars form the basic structure of the European Union, namely:



the Community pillar, corresponding to the three Communities: the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the former
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (first pillar);
the pillar devoted to the common foreign and security policy, which comes under Title V of the EU Treaty (second pillar);
the pillar devoted to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, which comes under Title VI of the EU Treaty (third pillar).
The Treaty of Amsterdam transferred some of the fields covered by the third pillar to the first pillar (free movement of persons).
The three pillars function on the basis of different decision-making procedures: the Community procedure for the first pillar, and the intergovernmental procedure for the
other two. In the case of the first pillar, only the Commission can submit proposals to the Council and Parliament, and a qualified majority is sufficient for a Council act to
be adopted. In the case of the second and third pillars, this right of initiative is shared between the Commission and the Member States, and unanimity in the Council is
generally necessary.
The European Constitution, which is currently being ratified, provides for a complete recasting of this system. The three pillars are to be merged, although specific
procedures will be retained for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), including defence policy.
Community and intergovernmental methods
The Community method is the expression used for the institutional operating mode set up in the first pillar of the European Union. It proceeds from an integration logic with
due respect for the subsidiarity principle, and has the following salient features:




Commission monopoly of the right of initiative;
widespread use of qualified majority voting in the Council;
an active role for the European Parliament;
uniform interpretation of Community law by the Court of Justice.
It contrasts with the intergovernmental method of operation used in the second and third pillars, which proceeds from an intergovernmental logic of cooperation and has
the following salient features:




the Commission's right of initiative is shared with the Member States or confined to specific areas of activity;
the Council generally acts unanimously;
the European Parliament has a purely consultative role;
the Court of Justice plays only a minor role.
Communitisation
Communitisation means transferring a matter which, in the institutional framework of the Union, is dealt with using the intergovernmental method (second and third pillars)
to the Community method (first pillar).
The Community method is based on the idea that the general interest of Union citizens is best defended when the Community institutions play their full role in the decisionmaking process, with due regard for the subsidiarity principle.
Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam (May 1999), questions relating to the free movement of persons, which used to come under cooperation on
justice and home affairs (third pillar), have been "communitised". After a five-year transitional phase, therefore, they will be dealt with under the Community method.
The European Constitution currently being ratified provides for the merger of the three existing pillars but retains certain specific procedures for the common foreign and
security policy, including the defence policy. This will make it possible to communitise most of the matters currently handled by the intergovernmental method.
Community legal instruments
The term Community legal instruments refers to the instruments available to the Community institutions to carry out their tasks under the Treaty establishing the European
Community with due respect for the subsidiarity principle. They are:




regulations: these are binding in their entirety and directly applicable in all Member States;
directives: these bind the Member States as to the results to be achieved; they have to be transposed into the national legal framework and thus leave
margin for manoeuvre as to the form and means of implementation;
decisions: these are fully binding on those to whom they are addressed;
recommendations and opinions: these are non-binding, declaratory instruments.
In addition to these instruments listed in Article 249 of the EC Treaty, practice has led to the development of a whole series of sui generis documents: interinstitutional
agreements, resolutions, conclusions, communications, green papers and white papers.
Moreover, under the second and third pillars, specific legal instruments are used, such as strategies, joint action and common positions in the area of the CFSP, and
decisions, framework decisions, joint positions and conventions in the area of JHA. The Constitution, which is in the process of being ratified, provides for a simpler
typology of Community instruments:




legislative acts: European laws and framework laws. These correspond to the existing regulations (laws) and directives (framework laws). They are to be
adopted by the current codecision procedure, which will become the "ordinary legislative procedure" in the Constitution;
non-legislative acts: regulations and decisions. According to the Constitution, a regulation is a non-legislative act of general application for the implementation
of legislative acts and of certain provisions of the Constitution. A decision is now defined as a non-legislative act, binding in its entirety. A decision which
specifies those to whom it is addressed is binding only on them;
non-mandatory instruments: opinions and recommendations;
sui generis documents: conclusions of the European Council, Council guidelines and European Council strategic guidelines.
Community law
Strictly speaking, Community law consists of the founding Treaties (primary legislation) and the provisions of instruments enacted by the Community institutions by virtue
of them (secondary legislation - regulations, directives, etc.). Once the European Constitution has been adopted, it will replace the current set of founding Treaties. Primary
Community law will consist of the Constitution and its Protocols - including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is incorporated in it - and the Euratom Treaty.
In a broader sense, Community law encompasses all the rules of the Community legal order, including general principles of law, the case law of the Court of Justice, law
flowing from the Community's external relations and supplementary law contained in conventions and similar agreements concluded between the Member States to give
effect to Treaty provisions.
All these rules of law form part of what is known as the Community acquis.
Hierarchy of Community acts (hierarchy of norms)
A declaration annexed to the Treaty on European Union states that it might be possible to review the classification of Community acts with a view to establishing an
appropriate hierarchy between the different categories of act.
The main purpose of such a hierarchy would be to enable the lawmaking authority to concentrate on policy aspects of particular issues rather than on questions of detail. It
would dictate the shape of the Community decision-making process by ensuring that instruments of constitutional status were subject to more restrictive procedures (such
as adoption by unanimous vote, reinforced qualified majority, and assent) than legislative instruments, which are themselves subject to less flexible procedures (for
example, the codecision procedure) than implementing instruments (for instance, the institutionalised delegation of powers to the Commission).
The subject was addressed in 1990 in the early discussions on the possibility of incorporating the codecision procedure into the Treaty. The underlying idea was to avoid
an over-rigorous procedure being applied to certain acts of secondary importance and thereby prevent the legislative machinery becoming congested. In 1991, during the
negotiations on the Treaty of Maastricht, the Commission proposed introducing a hierarchy of norms and a new system for classifying Community instruments (treaties,
laws, secondary or implementing acts), but failed to overcome the problems posed by the different national legal traditions.
The European Constitution currently being ratified provides for simplification of this hierarchy of norms. It establishes three categories of instrument, governed by different
decision-making procedures:



Legislative instruments - European laws and framework laws
Non-legislative instruments - European regulations and decisions
Non-mandatory instruments - opinions and recommendations
The Constitution also provides for general use of the codecision procedure, which would become the ordinary legislative procedure for adopting European laws and
framework laws.