The Principle of Subsidiarity and the Environment in the European Union: Keeping the Balance of Federalism

Abstract

This chapter traces the emergence of the principle of subsidiarity in the Community legal order, with some special reference to the environment. It analyzes the three paragraphs of Article 3b, again with particular emphasis on the environment. The chapter concludes that "subsidiarity" will not stand in the way of the further development of Community environmental policy along the lines that it has been following so far. Substantive Community policies were also affected by the principle of subsidiarity before the principle was expressly incorporated in the EC Treaty. The Treaty provision serving as the legal basis determines the balance of power between the Community and the Member States. And yet, because of its institutional and instrumental aspects, the choice of legal basis is the pivot on which the balance of "federalism" turns. The chapter illustrates that liability actions may be a proportional means of monitoring and enforcing the implementation of European environmental law without having to create an overcentralized, Community-wide bureaucracy.

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