Abstract

This chapter examines the European Union’s institutional design and how its institutions interact with national institutions in five different policy modes. The chapter first considers the evolving role and internal functioning of the European Commission, Council of the EU, European Council, European Parliament, and Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It also discusses quasi-autonomous agencies, in particular the European Central Bank (ECB), institutionalized control and scrutiny, and non-state actors. The chapter then offers an analysis of five policy modes that capture the different patterns of interaction between the EU and its member states: the classical Community method, the regulatory mode, the distributional mode, policy coordination, and intensive transgovernmentalism.