Subsidiarity

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Look up subsidiarity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, cybernetics, management, military (Mission Command) and, metaphorically, in the distribution of software module responsibilities in object-oriented programming (according to the Information expert design guideline). Subsidiarity is, ideally or in principle, one of the features of federalism, where it asserts the rights of the parts over the whole.

The word subsidiarity is derived from the Latin word subsidiarius and has its origins in Catholic social teaching (see Subsidiarity (Catholicism)).^[1] The concept or principle is found in several constitutions around the world (see for example the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which asserts States rights.

It is presently best known as a fundamental principle of European Union law. According to this principle, the EU may only act (i.e. make laws) where action of individual countries is insufficient. The principle was established in the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht. However, at the local level it was already a key element of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, an instrument of the Council of Europe promulgated in 1985 (see Article 4, Paragraph 3 of the Charter) (which states that the exercise of public responsibilities should be decentralised).

European Union law

Subsidiarity was established in EU law by the Treaty of Maastricht, signed on 7 February 1992 and entered into force on 1 November 1993. The present formulation is contained in Article 5(2) of the Treaty Establishing the European Community (consolidated version following the Treaty of Nice, which entered into force on 1 February 2003):

In areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community.

A more descriptive analysis of the principle can be found in Protocol 30 to the European Community Treaty.

Formally, the principle of subsidiarity applies to those areas where the Community does not have exclusive competence, the principle delineating those areas where the Community should and should not act. In practice, the concept is frequently used in a more informal manner in discussions as to which competences should be given to the Community, and which retained for the Member States alone.

The concept of subsidiarity therefore has both a legal and a political dimension. Consequently, there are varying views as to its legal and political consequences, and various criteria are put forward explaining the content of the principle. For example:

• The action must be necessary because actions of individuals or member-state governments alone will not achieve the objectives of the action (the sufficiency criterion)
• The action must bring added value over and above what could be achieved by individual or member-state government action alone (the benefit criterion).
• Decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the citizen (the close to the citizen criterion)
• The action should secure greater freedoms for the individual (the autonomy criterion).

See also

• Principle of conferral
• Decentralisation
• Devolution
• Distributism
• Foundation for subsidiarity
• Grassroots democracy
• Localism
• Parochialism
• Local Government
• Oswald von Nell-Breuning
• Public choice theory
• Urban secession

External links

• Treaty establishing the European Community.
• Catechism section on Subsidiarity.
• Foundation for Subsidiarity
• The Assembly of European Regions' Subsidiarity is a word movement, demanding recognition in dictionaries worldwide
• For German-speaking visitors: see also Subsidiaritaet in the Lexikon der sozialoekologischen Marktwirtschaft.

References

1. ^ Das Subsidiaritätsprinzip als wirtschaftliches Ordnungsprinzip, in: Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und soziale Ordnung. Degenfeld-Festschrift, pub. von Lagler and J. Messner, Vienna 1952, pp81-92, cited in http://www.helmut-zenz.de/hznellbr.html