Summary
Karel Boutens
Het subsidiariteitsbeginsel: een kwestie van toepassing
Karel Boutens examines the principle of subsidiarity which has been at the centre of a fierce debate since its formal inclusion in the EC Treaty as a general principle of community law. The author attempts to identify and delimit the problems arising out of the implementation of the principle. In order to do this the genesis of the EC Treaty Article specifying the principle of subsidiarity dating back to the Treaty of Maastricht is traced. Once the problems have been identified, the proposal made by the Working Group on Subsidiarity within the European Convention on the Future of Europe is examined. The author considers the various disadvantages and dangers of the proposal and comes to the conclusion that the proposal is unlikely to bring benefits to the European integration process and the application of the subsidiarity principle enshrined in Article 5 EC. The outcome of the work holds to the conclusion that it is difficult to transform the principle into objective legal criteria.