[Page 276]Political behavior in the European Union (EU) must be interpreted in the light of the atypical nature of the European political order. The EU does not correspond to any ideal type of governance. It is neither a purely supranational political entity nor merely an international intergovernmental organization but rather an evolving political construction that is simultaneously communitarian (in matters of economic integration) and cooperative (in matters of political union), federal and confederal: a result of the gradual rapprochement of the peoples of Europe after the Second World War, which has led to an overlap between identities and spaces of political representation.