One factor is that the personalisation of the political debate, which we have in Member States, is largely missing at European level. Another is that we lack the intermediate structures, such as truly European political parties, which help to organise debates about complex political subjects. So, if you have any bright ideas on how to tackle this problem, they are more than welcome. Some Europeans even think you invented it - but we know of course that it actually goes back to Aristotle. We should only transfer to a higher, or more general, political body those questions which individuals, families, companies, villages, regions, nations cannot decide for themselves.
Subsidiarity is an extremely attractive political concept, but sounds incredibly boring.
For example, it seems to me absurd in the context of weighing up environmental concerns versus industrial competitiveness not to have that debate on a European scale - but in other areas, the focus should remain on national, regional and local government. In fact, European governance has always been and will continue to be a mixture of local, regional, national, intergovernmental and supranational practice - even if the debate has not yet finished on which issues need to be addressed at which level. Subsidiarity as a principle opens up a sensible debate inside the EU, firstly about what the European arm of the governance system should do, and secondly on how we articulate collective preferences in these areas. You can amuse yourself in drawing up lists of subjects that you think should be treated at European level. Not necessarily exclusively so - for example, as trade commissioner, I have no desire to control trade promotion.