Demobilising Opposition to European Integration

The Principle of Subsidiarity and the Creation of the European Union, 1988–1992

Bibliographic Data

ID7734124
AuthorsVictor Jaeschke (0009-0005-0532-7525, University of Potsdam, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume34
Issue1
Pages75-90
Publication date2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary European History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0960-7773 • E-ISSN: 1469-2171
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0960777324000109
OpenAlexW4396495441
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

By analysing new archival evidence, this article reveals how in the late 1980s, the legal principle of subsidiarity came to be seen as a tool for demobilising opposition to further European integration. At the same time, it also became a projection screen for competing visions for Europe's future: while the European Commission saw subsidiarity as an important foundation for a future European federation and the German government as an essential part of a ‘Europe of the regions’, the British government hoped to use it to achieve a renationalisation of the European Community. The French government was much more sceptical towards subsidiarity, pointing to the paradox that subsidiarity actually required a strong central authority to achieve its decentralising ends. The article concludes by arguing that the debate on subsidiarity reveals how ambitious and yet contested European integration had become by the early 1990s

Economics · European integration · European union · International trade · Political science · Subsidiarity · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US

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