Homeguard,
You are pretty much on the money regarding the normal process for legislative development within EU, however, it is somewhat different within EU aviation.
It was explained to me by my colleagues at a certain grey building in Gatwick, who are personally involved in the development of legislation (and having been so myself to a far lessser degree), that, in order to maintain cross border uniformity and compliance (and thus avoid the problems experienced under JAA, with, as you correctly state, each country going off and doing its own thing to one degree or another) EASA has been granted the status of a higher executive authority, which gives it the power to develop legislation which, when approved by the EU Parliament, becomes binding on all EU member states.
This is somewhat different to the normal process whereby EU Directives (your 'guidelines/recommendations') are issued by the EU Commission to EU member states for imlementation into national legislation. In this respect, it is common to find individual countries either adhering steadfastly to the EU Directive (as is commonly in the case with the UK), blatantly ignoring the Directive if they disagree with it (as is the case with F......) or somewhere in between.
Thus, whilst the UK DfT, CAA and industry are heavily involved with the legislative development process, the final regulations are implemented by EASA and not individual member states.
With a bit of luck that'll help clarify things a bit further.
