Abstract
The European Council has gradually evolved into a center of political decision making in the EEC/EU and its range of formal and informal powers continues to grow. The following political decisions and legal regulations marked a significant step in this process because it identified and acknowledged the European Council’s position and its leading role within the EEC/ EU. This article examines the sources and manifestations of the institutional changes within the European Council in the period 1961-1977. Its purpose is to analyze the factors which influence the creation and development of the European Council in light of political decisions, Treaty’s provisions and the practice of its activities. The issue discussed in the article is based on the assumption that the structural order is characterized by a significant asymmetry. The increasing interdependence in the relations between states, together with the need and the necessity of the idea of cooperation, has coincided with the process of change necessitated by the new functions of the European Council. This has significantly affected the pace of inter-institutional transformation. In defining the determinants affecting this transformation, the functionality of the system, as well as the limitations in terms of its ability should be emphasized.
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