The idea of Europe, that was developed for centuries by the political philosophy, was materialized after the Second World War, when the Schuman Declaration on May 9, 1950, was materialized in the European Community of Coal and Steel, adopted by the 1951 Treaty of Paris. The creation of this first European Community is the starting point of the European construction process. Since its inception, two objectives preside this new process. On the one hand, the will to ensure peace in Europe and, on the other hand, being aware that peace will come from the condition of prosperity. Therefore, we have a duet formed by peace and prosperity, which are reflected in the two dimensions that caracterise the European construction process from the 50s: first, the economic integration and, secondly, the final objective of political union. This double dimension, the economic integration and the purpose of political union, are reflected in the constitutional basis of European construction, that is, in the treaties. The first three treaties that were adopted were the founding ones, the Treaty of Paris of 1951 and the two treaties of Rome of 1957, which respectively create the European Economic Community and the Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community They are the first expression of a new type of political organisation, which contemplates the transfer of sovereign parcels from the Member States to a supranational entity. At first, the supranational entity par excellence is the high authority of ECSC, which later would become the European Commission. Therefore, we have two goals: prosperity and peace and economic integration and political union. As European construction has progressed, the combination of two different functional dynamics has been appreciated. On the one hand, an integrating dynamic, characteristic of what would be the idea of the Common Market of 1957, that later, in 1986, would become the European Single Market. In the field of economic integration, there is a federalizing process, meaning that the Member States have gradually ceded powers towards a supra-state level of power, in some way, reconfiguring the exercise of their political powers, for example, the competition policy, or agricultural policy. In economic integration, the main characteristic is that legislative initiative no longer comes from the Member States, but rather comes from the European Commission, the supranational institution and guardian of the treaties that embodies the idea of a supranational Europe. At the same time of this economic integration, characterised by the progressive transfer of competences from the Member States to a supranational level, from the sixties, in particular from the 1966 Empty Chair Crisis, and, especially from the 1970 Ariño report, the creation of a parallel mechanism for intergovernmental cooperation in political matters. This mechanism of political cooperation, which later, in 1992, would become the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the fifth title of the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty of Maastricht and, on the other hand, cooperation in matters of justice, sixth title of the Treaty on European Union, apply a different functional dynamic, in which the Member States are not delegating sovereignty to a supranational entity, but rather decide to cooperate on a horizontal intergovernmental basis, a classical diplomacy scheme in areas of high political content, such as foreign policy and cooperation in internal justice. It is worth highlighting that a part of this intergovernmental pillar, in particular matters related to asylum and refugee policies, would be communitarized through the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, that is, a part of the cooperation that used to be intergovernmental would now integrate the supranational dynamic, a characteristic of economic integration. As European Union construction process has gone forward, it has also been important the number of states that have joined this new type of political process. Initially, six states join the ECSC, signing the 1951 Treaty of Paris, the Benelux countries, France, Germany and Italy. As the construction process progresses, the European communities until 1992 and then the European Union, have been expanded. The first enlargement of the European communities with the adhesion of three new states in 1973, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark; later, Greece in 1981; Spain and Portugal in 1986; Sweden, Austria and Finland in 1995, and later, in 2004, the largest enlargement in European history with the accession of ten new states: Cyprus, Malta and countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the previously called CEECs, and the Baltic states. The enlargement of the European Union would continue with the subsequent entry in 2007 of Romania and Bulgaria and, finally, Croatia in 2013. Throughout 60 years of European construction, an oscillation or a kind of tension, has dominated the functional dynamics, between the integrating dynamics based on the transfer of sovereignty, characteristic of the economic affairs, concluding, for example, in the adoption of single currency, the introduction of the euro at the beginning of the 2000s, and the more intergovernmental dynamics, classical cooperation in the political affairs and especially the foreign and defence policies. To make it possible to differentiate between these two dynamics: a more federalizing dynamic in the field of economic integration and a more confederative in the political union, we can focus in decision-making modes. The qualified majority is the norm for matters related to economic integration and unanimity is the norm for matters related to political union. Qualified majority implies that, in policies such as, competition policy, single market, agricultural policy, environmental policy, etc. In these areas The Member States can be bound by norms that they have not expressly endorsed, if there is a high majority in favour, specifically 55 per cent of the states in favour, which in turn represents 65 per cent of the Union's population, since the application of the Treaty of Lisbon, meaning that in these areas, the Member States have ceded some part of sovereignty, so they can be linked by decision they have not expressly endorsed. In political matters, decisions are taken by unanimity in a confederative scheme. So, a state cannot be bound by a norm that it does not expressly subscribe to. Therefore, the decision-making rule is also an indicator that allow us to analyze the nature of the European construction process. To sum up, it is possible to say that the European Union construction, beginning in the 1950s, sets the progressive design of an unconventional type of organization, much more than a conventional international organization, but not a superstate. We can appreciate the genuine character of this construction process, focusing the gaze in the economic integration and political union and, particularly, within the economic integration, the idea of sovereign states that are giving up powers towards a supranational entity and therefore renouncing some parcels of sovereignty. The importance and interest of studying the European construction process, lies in this atypical character that combines federal features with confederal fetures making the European Union, which is the political and legal entity adopted with the Lisbon Treaty, a unique example of a supranational organization.
