“SUBSIDIARITY CHECK:
PRACTICAL APPLICATION AT THE EU NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS”
The Seimas, Constitution Hall
Vilnius, 22 September 2014
National Parliaments and EU law:
subsidiarity policing as a
Europeanisation device
Dr Davor Jancic
British Academy Newton Fellow
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Department of Law, Houghton Street, London – UK
d.jancic@lse.ac.uk
Contents
1) NPs’ role in the EU
2) Subsidiarity as an EU principle
3) Subsidiarity Vs policy scrutiny
4) Subsidiarity as substitute for
sovereignty?
5) EWM Vs Barroso Initiative
6) Practice of subsidiarity policing
7) Concluding remarks
NPs’ role in the EU
Good functioning of the EU [Art. 12 TEU]
Principle of sincere cooper. [Art. 4(3) TEU]
Governments accountable to NPs as a
matter of EU law [Art. 10(2) TEU]
Respect for national identity [Art. 4(2) TEU]
Subsidiarity as an EU principle
Founding EU principles:
Conferral – Subsidiarity – Proportionality
Competence delimitation
Shared Vs Exclusive and Supporting
Subsidiarity Vs policy scrutiny
Political opportuneness Vs substance
Procedural elements to consider:
- Commission to consult widely
- Justification via detailed statement
(financial
impact, quantitative & qualitative indicators)
- Financial and admin burden
(minimal &
commensurate)
EU inst scrutiny Vs Govt scrutiny
Subsidiarity as sovereignty substitute
Legislative function compensated?
Accountability function
compensated?
Relations with the EP?
2014 EP resolutions
Relations with the ECJ?
Infringement actions
EWM Vs Barroso Initiative
Scope: narrow vs wide
Effects: legal vs political
Nature: formal vs informal
Reform of Barroso Initiative post-crisis
Juncker Initiative?
Practice of subsidiarity policing
2 yellow cards – any sign of
Commission constraint?
Mixed bag of assessments –
smuggling non-subsidiarity
elements?
Red card a solution?
Concluding remarks
Europeanisation catalyst – activation of NPs
Content-neutrality drawback
Not a satisfactory solution for EU democracy
Parliaments: legislatures to ‘dispatchers’,
policy shaping to gatekeeping
Govt accountability should not be neglected
Euro crisis impact?