The EU in constant research for power
When the EU started to look at the stars...
Friday 16 February 2007
Subsidiarity is a principle according to which the decisions are to be taken as closely as possible from the citizens. Although it is one of the principles of the European Union a growing number of people are concerned about the reality of its implementation in the integration process. Signs show that, despite a Treaty anchor of subsidiarity, the EU is conducted by another principle which results in a self-initiated growing appropriation of competences to the detriment of local, regional or national authorities. This second principle is called competence-competence, or the competence for an institution to determine what enter into its competences by itself.
The question of the EU interfering with national competences is not new, the ban on smoking in public areas is just an example. More recently though, the European Commission attempted a move into national government’s criminal law, proposing to harmonise what constitutes serious environmental crimes and what the minimum level of penalties should be across the EU. Although the idea of setting heavy penalties for environmental crimes can only be saluted, EUobserver reported that “it is the second time in EU legal history that Brussels proposes that national governments will no longer have the full sovereign right to decide what constitutes a crime and what the punishment should be”. Brussels' move into criminal matters was triggered by a landmark ruling on environmental crimes by the European Court of Justice in September 2005, which gave Brussels power to introduce harmonized criminal laws across the EU.
The recent proposal of having a decision outlawing genocide denial across the EU is only different in the way that it is initiated by the member states themselves. The protagonists of this decision underline that it won’t change a lot in many countries due to the vagueness of its content. But, given the European Court of Justice’s fast evolving jurisprudence, there are some reasonable fears that the member states will soon be brought to conflict with the EU, transforming what should remain a state responsibility into an EU case law. In the end, the only looser will be the principle of subsidiarity.
It is time the heads of states established a clear separation of competences between the EU and the member states. This constitutes the only reasonable alternative to the fake assumption that the EU will not do whatever it takes to gain more powers, including ignoring the principle of subsidiarity. The EU is not different than big companies, it is self-centred, tends to increase its sphere of influence and consolidate its own powers. It has been a while since the EU stopped looking at the people to start looking at the stars.
Sources: Open Europe, EUobserver