Creating a culture of subsidiarity is a priority for the European Committee of the Regions, which presented its annual Subsidiarity Report for 2014 today. "We have found that there is a need for more information and training on subsidiarity in Europe" Michael Schneider, Coordinator of the Subsidiarity Monitoring Network, said. "It is therefore our responsibility to address this need and to contribute to further monitoring through our subsidiarity control instruments and increased interinstitutional cooperation. Moreover, we will continue to support regional parliaments in their use of the early warning system."
The principle of subsidiarity is fundamental to the functioning of the European Union and more specifically to European decision-making. The principle determines when the EU is competent to legislate, and contributes to decisions being taken as closely as possible to the citizen.
It is closely bound up with the principle of proportionality, which requires that any action by the Union should not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaty.
In 2014, three initiatives were selected from the European Commission's work programme and evaluated by the CoR for their compliance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality:
• Clean air
• Organic production
• Circular economy
The Subsidiarity Annual Report 2014 will be accessible at the Subsidiarity Network website.
An interinstitutional Subsidiarity Conference will be organised in cooperation with the Flemish Parliament towards the end of 2015.