The principle of subsidiarity is one of the most contested issues in EU law scholarship. The concerns related to the principle are both substantive and institutional.
Subsidiarity has been considered as too political and vague to constitute a meaningful check on the exercise of EU competences. This has in its turn made judicial enforcement of the principle before the Court of Justice seriously problematic. This paper aims to address these concerns by examining how subsidiarity can limit the exercise of EU competence. It suggests that the problems of reconstructing subsidiarity cannot be seen in isolation from the issue of judicial review. In a substantive sense it argues for a narrow understanding of subsidiarity, suggesting the EU legislator to demonstrate the risk or the existence of a ‘market failure’ that requires EU action. From the perspective of judicial review the key argument is to change the focus from ‘substantive review’ to ‘procedural review’ of subsidiarity in order to meet institutional concerns.
Speaker: Jacob Öberg, Senior Lecturer in Law, Örebro University
Discussant: Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt
Time: 15 December 2015, Tuesday, 12.00 - 13.30
Location: Fakultetsrummet, plan 8, Juridicum, SU