The Principle of Subsidiarity

EU formally adopted the principle of subsidiarity in the 1992 Treaty on European Union (TEU) regarding application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality*. It has since been amended and has added a more precise definition of the role of national parliaments in guarding that the principle is upheld by the Commission, Council and Parliament.

*) Article 5(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Protocol (No 2) on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. See documentation from the Parliament at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/7/the-principle-of-subsidiarity 

The principle in a generic way says that decisions are best made close to the community and the citizens that are affected by the decisions. Decisions should thus be delegated to the lovest possible level of concern. Said in another way, the Parliament or the Commission or the Council of Ministers must not take decisions that just as well or better could have been taken by a state government, parliament, ministery or even local municipal government.

All sounds very well, however it is not implemented in this way. Many Directives are specifying decisions to a much more detailed level than necessary. In this way, there is more uniformity to how the Union is governed, but on the other hand, there is no allowance for local deviations that are very often of big importance to the local community. The locality principle is good, but it is not used as intended and the ordinary citizens are not benefiting from the otherwise good intentions.

National parliaments are responsible according to the Treaty to point out transgressions to the principle. EU is then obliged to react, amend or withdraw the provision in question. However, the procedure is cumbersome and not often used. A third of national parliaments need to vote for the procedure to start (yellow card) or half of national parliaments need to vote for an orange card, with higher pressure on the Commission to act.

The procedure has been invoked very few times, mainly because it is difficult to coordinate so many national assemblies, and because there is a general apathy towards wasting too much effort on this kind of EU matters. In this way, the picture of EU as a regulatory machine that just grinds on and on is maintained.

The first issue is that citizens get tired of the EU rules, because they effectively feel that the rules are irrelevant, meaningless in the local contest, and often working against the interest of local populace. It halts progress in many circumstances, because 'one size does not fit all'. It contributes to a feeling of disenfranchisement and despise for the EU project and the EU institutions. And this is even not called for, because a more localized approach is wanted even by top politicians, and the globalistic approach is not necessary in order to meet the greater goals of the Union.

https://www.eu.dk/da/fakta-og-tal/s%C3%A5dan-lovgiver-eu/naerhedsprincippet

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/7/the-principle-of-subsidiarity