Supranationality is the normative principle animating European Community law. It says, roughly, that a supranational community eliminates disadvantages that arise for persons as a consequence of the co-existence of nation states. In the course of the integration process, this principle has been given a dominant interpretation, which reaches beyond its legal context. Supranationality is taken to amount to a general guarantee of mobility. This narrow reading of the original principle has a conspicuous advantage. It lends coherence to supranationality and provides the key to a better understanding of structural matters. On its basis, it can be seen that European federalism is essentially a variation of competitive federalism. However, inasmuch as the nationals of Member States, in the context of European competitive federalism, suffer disadvantages owing to their national governments' lack of competence or power in the sphere of social policy, it can be seen that the dominant interpretation conflicts with the original meaning of supranationality
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