Community method

The Community method indicates, in the European Union, the operating process of the European Institutions practiced within the framework of the first pillar. One usually speaks about “communautarization” when the authorities decide to give up in certain fields the rule of the unanimity and to apply from now on the Community method to it.

The Community method is based on the following principles:

the Commission has the monopoly of the Right to take initiatives;
the the Council vote in the majority qualified;
the Parliament formula of the opinions, the proposals for an amendment… (Procedure of joint decision)
the Court of justice ensures the uniformity of interpretation of the Community legislation.

The Community method is opposed to the intergovernmental Méthode unanimously, based on the decision within the Conseil, to which the second and third pillars of the Union appeal.

The European treaties indicate the fields which concern the Community method. Since the treaties of Maastricht and of Amsterdam, the Community method applies to many matters which concerned previously the unanimity within the Council with simple consultation of the Parliament, like the Space of freedom, of safety and justice.

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