Principles of EU Environmental Law

The principles of subsidiarity and proportionality govern the exercise of the EU's competences. Both principles are laid down in Article 5 of the TEU. The criteria for applying it are set out in the Protocol (No 2) on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Treaties.

In areas in which the EU does not have exclusive competence, such as the protection of the environment, the principle of subsidiarity defines the circumstances in which it is preferable for action to be taken by the EU, rather than the Member States. In other words, the principle of subsidiarity authorises intervention by the Union when the objectives of an action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States. Subsidiarity is first and foremost a political principle, a sort of rule of reason. Its aim is to regulate the exercise of powers and to justify their use in a particular case.

There are three preconditions for intervention by Union institutions in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity: 1) the area concerned does not fall within the Union's exclusive competence (i.e. non-exclusive competence); 2) the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States (i.e. necessity); 3) the action can, therefore, by reason of its scale or effects, be implemented more successfully by the EU (i.e. added value).

The subsidiarity principle is not intended to limit the EU's competence on the basis of the situation of any particular Member State taken individually but requires only that the proposed action can, because of its scale or effects, be better achieved at the level of the EU, and provisions specific to various areas, including the internal market, laid down in the Treaties (Case C-508/13 Estonia v Parliament and Council, para. 53).