Considerations on the Models of State Organization in the European Union.

The unitary state is organized on the basis of the principle of unity and centralization. This form is the most widespread in the European Union (France, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, etc.). The rule of law has the following main characteristics: - it consists of a single set of bodies through which political power is exercised at central and local level; - the governing activity is broadcast from the center in a hierarchical way; - there is only one legal order, based on a single constitution; - the population has only one citizenship. Although the state is unitary, its territory can be divided into administrativeterritorial units or into local communities. The subdivisions of the unitary state have an eminently administrative character and do not constitute states within the state. In the modern unitary state, based on the principles of the rule of law, centralization plays a role similar to that of absolute monarchies, but obviously with different means and objectives. We consider, in this sense, the fact that the centralized state apparatus (the single or main center of decision) represents, in reality, the whole nation and serves its general interests. In modern states, the centralization of power and its distribution by a single center of decision is no longer for the benefit of a single person, but of the whole people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]