Community method

The Community method refers to decision making processes in the European Union which emphasise the roles of the supranational decision making bodies such as the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the European Union. It can be contrasted with intergovernmental decision making processes used in the former second and third pillars of the Union in which the Commission and Parliament played more minor roles, and to intergovernmental cooperation outside of the formal EU processes, such as the Schengen Agreement before the Amsterdam Treaty.