The EU Principle of Subsidiarity and Its Critique


Book Description

The European Union principle of subsidiarity was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and was the subject of a protocol in the Amsterdam Treaty. It was intended as a last-resort protection mechanism for member states in a minority on a particular issue in the Council of Ministers. In the first book devoted to the subject the author analyses these constitutional reforms and the reluctance of the ECJ to implement them, and argues that the principle will not be able to perform this protective role effectively.







The Principle of Subsidiarity and its Enforcement in the EU Legal Order


Book Description

In this book, Katarzyna Granat analyses and evaluates Europe's experience with the Early Warning System (EWS) which allows national parliaments to review draft legislative acts of the European Union for their compatibility with the subsidiarity principle. The EWS was introduced in response to the perceived 'democratic deficit' of the EU and its 'creeping' competences, and represented one of the landmark reforms of the Lisbon Treaty. The purpose of this book is to present and critically analyse the functioning of the new mechanism of subsidiarity review and the role that national parliaments have played within this system. Compared to the existing leading publications on the Europeanisation of national parliaments and contributions on the EU principle of subsidiarity, this book offers – for the first time – a profound legal analysis of the procedure enriched by a comprehensive empirical analysis of the activities of national parliaments. It is directed at scholars of EU law and policy, European and national officials, and legal practitioners working in and with the national legislatures.




Subsidiarity in the European Community's legal order


Book Description

Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: A-Grade with Distinction, South Bank University London (Faculty of Art and Human Sciences), course: European Policy, language: English, abstract: The subject of this essay is the implementation of the subsidiarity-principle in the EC's legal order. While EC-laws have supremacy over national laws and become a part of the national legal order, self-standing national laws are applicable where the EC has no legislative competence. In this aspect, the EC’s system is comparable to e.g. the German federal system. The essay shows that the EC’s legislative system balances the powers of the supranational and the national level by certain legal instruments: The principle of “limited empowerment”, the distinction between exclusive and competitive competences and the necessity of a “legal basis” for every supranational legislative act. As their justiciability is essential for the lower levels’ protection from power centralisation the Member States can litigate at the European Court of Justice against “lack of competence” when the EC meddles in affairs for which it is not empowered. The theoretical implementation as well as the – sometimes unsatisfying – practical application of these instruments is illustrated on the examples of two EC-directives on the ban of tobacco advertisements and the German litigation against them for “lack of competence”.




Global Perspectives on Subsidiarity


Book Description

Global Perspectives on Subsidiarity is the first book of its kind exclusively devoted to the principle of subsidiarity. It sheds new light on the principle and explores and develops the many applications of the principle of subsidiarity. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the principle in all its facets, from its philosophical origins in the writings of Aristotle and Aquinas, to its development in Catholic social doctrine, and its emergence as a key principle in European Union Law. This book explores the relationship between subsidiarity and concepts such as sphere sovereignty and social pluralism. It analyses subsidiarity in light of globalisation, federalism, democracy, individual rights and welfare, and discusses subsidiarity and the Australian, Brazilian and German Constitutions.​




Varieties of European Subsidiarity


Book Description

Subsidiarity as a principle in favour of decentralised decision-making is a cornerstone of the very legal construction of the EU. Yet, the question of how decision-making powers should be distributed between the EU and the member states is not, or only to a minimal extent, answered in Article 5 (3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). This collection draws on social science disciplines to go beyond a purely legal analysis to provide clarity over this principle as applied. With the help of theoretical exploration and empirical case studies the contributors identify significant variation in the implementation of the subsidiarity concept. By tracing the precise location of political authority at different levels of European governance they examine the pressures for effective decision-making despite the changing policy preferences of governments.







The Law of the European Union and the European Communities


Book Description

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. 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 and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.




From Dual to Cooperative Federalism


Book Description

What is the federal philosophy underlying the law-making function in the European Union? Which federal model best characterizes the European Union? This book analyses and demonstrates how the European legal order evolved from a dual federalism towards a cooperative federalist philosophy.




Making Sense of Subsidiarity


Book Description

This report argues that until detailed arguments for and against centralization through the European Union, there remains an incomplete guide to the principle decision of where power should reside.