Having analysed the constitutional foundations of the Union in the first part, Part II of the book explores the governmental machinery of the Union. How and to what extent can the Union adopt legislation, and how will its legislative acts be executed and adjudicated? The Union legal order is a federal legal order that is based on the principle of conferral. According to this ‘foundational’ principle, the Union can only act where the Treaties have conferred a power to do so. This power will determine the material scope within which the Union is entitled to act (competence) but also the manner in which it must act (procedure).

What is the extent of the Union's legislative powers and what are the procedures that need to be followed before Union legislation comes into being? Chapter 7 analyses these questions in depth. Chapter 8 looks at the foreign affairs powers of the Union and here, in particular, the creation of external ‘legislation’ in the form of international agreements. The executive branch is discussed in Chapter 9. We shall see here that the Union has adopted a system of executive federalism. This ‘federal’ solution can also be found in the context of the judicial function – discussed in Chapters 10 and 11. For in addition to the centralised adjudication of European law by the Union Courts, the direct effect of European law requires national courts to act as decentralised ‘Union’ courts. A final chapter explores the judicial limits to all governmental powers: EU fundamental rights.