The EU Principle of Subsidiarity and its Critique

The European Union principle of subsidiarity was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and was the subject of a protocol in the Amsterdam Treaty. It was intended as a last-resort protection mechanism for member states in a minority on a particular issue in the Council of Ministers. In the first book devoted to the subject the author analyzes these constitutional reforms and the reluctance of the ECJ to implement them, and argues that the principle will not be able to perform this protective role effectively.