Subsidiarity and Democratic Deliberation

Abstract

The Amsterdam Treaty seeks to bring the European Union closer to the people of Europe by aligning the institutions closer to conceptions of subsidiarity and democracy. Subsidiarity is made operational in a Protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty. This "Amsterdam Subsidiarity" regards Community action as appropriate if "the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States' action in the framework of their national constitutional system and can therefore be better achieved by action on the part of the Community." (art. 5). Thus the determination of relative efficiency of Community and Member State action is crucial for this conception of subsidiarity. Democracy is furthered by reforms which increase the European Parliament's powers vis-a-vis both the Commission and the Council of Ministers. These reforms move the Union towards a bicameral model of parliamentary democracy (Nentwich and Falkner 1997)

Keywords: EU, subsidiarity, democracy, deliberation, Amsterdam Treaty