Timo Hohmuth 
The Commission is the most powerful institution in the EU but the Court of Justice is the most important. [PDF ebook] 

Essay aus dem Jahr 2000 im Fachbereich Jura — Europarecht, Völkerrecht, Internationales Privatrecht, Note: 65 % (=14 Punkte), University of Newcastle upon Tyne (Law School), Veranstaltung: Seminar, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The question is if the European Commission is the most powerful institution in the EU, but the
ECJ the most important. Is that true? It is, however, a mixed law and fact question. Looking at
the power and the importance of these institutions leads into a similar direction. The Treaties give
the institutions different rights and competencies. The factual importance can be measured by
focusing on their actual achievements. The term “institution” refers to all facilities of the Community. The system of the arrangement of the institutions is not created following the principle of the balance of powers known from states’ constitutions. Especially there is no strict division between legislative and executive power. Only
the judicial power has some kind of its own but factually not pure section. The four main institutions
of the European Community are as set out in the Treaty the Parliament, the Council, the
Commission and the Court of Justice. The rights of the Parliament are only a few. Generally the
Council can be considered as the most powerful and therefore most important institution of the
Community (art. 202 et seq. ECT) because it is the main legislator and executes all the important
legislation (regulations, directives), only sometimes in co-operation with the Parliament (art. 251
ECT). […]