This newest edition of the classic standard Introduction to the Law of the European Communities provides under a new title the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the EC and the EU-including (unusual for surveys of European law) detailed description and commentary on the Economic and Monetary Union. The new edition covers developments up to the beginning of 2008, and each chapter includes some indication of the major changes which will take place if and when the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force. The Fourth Edition embraces many new, ongoing and emerging European legal issues, such as the following:A* much deeper analysis of the complex relationship between Community law and national law;A* re-examination of competition law in the light of the procedural requirements of Regulation 1/2003; and A* discussion of the protection of the financial interests of the Community. All the topics constantly debated in European legal theory and practice-the 'constitution,' accession, citizenship, character of EMU, principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, free movement of persons/goods/services, social security, public procurement, telecommunications, merger control, State aids, environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, agriculture, transport, external competence, Council/Commission/Parliament powers, role of the ECJ, harmonization-are discussed here in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening.The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit.