Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org

SLG

For those who are so inclined - The Scottish Campaign against Euro-Federalism. For progressive alternatives to a centralized, neo-liberal EU.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foster.prendergast/scaef/index_files/

Aventinian · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 8:46 pm Post subject:

Surely federalism is an opposite ideal to centralisation?

Anyway, ever heard of the Subsidiarity principle that the EU employs. It roughly rules out arbitrary centralisation and can be held up in courts.
_________________
The resident pantomime villain.
'Socialists cry "Power to the people", and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.'

SLG · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:59 pm Post subject:

With every federation, there is surely still some level of centralisation, otherwise you have a federation of independent countries.

Never heard of the Subsidiarity principle. Sounds interesting, and something that should reassure people. Is the definition of 'arbitrary centralisation' not a very subjective one?

Aventinian · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:03 pm Post subject:

Well there are exclusive competences as mentioned in the subsidiarity principle as embodied in the Nice Treaty:

"The Community shall act within the limits of the powers conferred upon it by this Treaty and of the objectives assigned to it therein.

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.

Any action by the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Treaty."

But the exclusive competences (the properly centralised parts of the EU) are tiny and very limited in scope.