Commission Report to the European Council - Better lawmaking 2001 (pursuant to Article 9 of the Protocol to the EC Treaty on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality)
Date: 2001-12-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: drafting of EU law, legislative programme (EU), principle of proportionality, principle of subsidiarity, simplification of legislation

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 07.12.2001
COM(2001) 728 final

COMMISSION REPORT
TO THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

BETTER LAWMAKING 2001
(pursuant to Article 9 of the Protocol to the EC Treaty on the application of the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

2.

2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

3.

Introduction.............................................................................................................. 3

How the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are applied ............................ 3

Subsidiarity and proportionality: the legal framework under the Treaty of Amsterdam3

Subsidiarity in 2001.................................................................................................. 4

Proportionality in 2001 ............................................................................................. 6

The Community’s legislative activity in 2001 ........................................................... 8

3.1.

Consultation ............................................................................................................. 8

4.

4.1.

4.2.

4.3.

5.

Quality lawmaking ................................................................................................. 11

Legal drafting ......................................................................................................... 11

Recasting, consolidation and codification ............................................................... 11

Simplification......................................................................................................... 13

Conclusions............................................................................................................ 15

2

1.

INTRODUCTION

Each year, the Commission presents a report to the European Council, the European
Parliament and the Council on the way Article 5 of the EC Treaty has been applied.
The report also goes to the Committee of the Regions and to the Economic and Social
Committee. This is (a) at the request of the Edinburgh European Council of
December 1992 and successive European Councils; (b) in accordance with the inter-
institutional agreement of 29 October 1993 on how the principle of subsidiarity
should be applied; (c) on the basis of Article 9 of the Protocol to the Treaty of
Amsterdam on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

The report for 2001 has been written for the Laeken European Council of 14 and
15 December 2001, and describes developments over the past year.

The aim is to give a factual account of how the principles of subsidiarity and
proportionality have been applied, using real-life examples from the Community’s
legislative work.

A more thorough debate on the simplifying and improving the regulatory environment
is this year launched with the preparation of a consultative document as required by
the Stockholm European Council1.

The White Paper on Governance proposed that, from 2002 on, the annual report on
subsidiarity and proportionality under the Amsterdam Protocol focus on the European
Union’s main policy objectives.

2.

2.1.

HOW THE PRINCIPLES OF SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY ARE
APPLIED

Subsidiarity and proportionality: the legal framework under the Treaty
of Amsterdam

The principles are defined by Article 5 of the EC Treaty and by the Protocol on the
application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the
Treaty of Amsterdam.

Article 5 says that:

• 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.

1

Communication from the Commission to the Laeken European Council (COM(2001)726).

3

• Any action by the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the

objectives of this Treaty.

The protocol to the Treaty of Amsterdam sets out guidelines on how the principle
should be applied. It justifies action on the part of the Community where the issue
under consideration has transnational aspects, where action by a Member State alone
or lack of Community action would conflict with the requirements of the Treaty, or
where action at Community level would produce clear benefits by reason of its scale
or effects.

the Protocol

In addition,
imposes broad consultation, simple legislation and
assessments of the financial/administrative impact of measures on the Community,
the national governments, the local authorities, economic operators and the public at
large.

2.2.

Subsidiarity in 2001

The Protocol stresses the dynamic nature of the concept of subsidiarity: on the one
hand, it allows Community action to be restricted or even discontinued where it is no
longer justified; on the other, it allows it to be expanded within the limits of its
powers.

In working towards the new objectives introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty, the
Community has put in a great deal of legislative effort, within the limits of its powers,
to regulate in these new policy areas or to make Commission action more effective.

With a view to creating an “area of freedom, security and justice” in the European
Union, as provided for in the Amsterdam Treaty, and in line with the conclusions of
the Tampere European Council of 15–16 October 1999 and the Scoreboard2 on
progress made, the Commission proposed important legislative action in this field3.
The main initiatives are concerned with laying down a common judicial framework
for the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the
purpose of paid employment and self-employment4, the status of third-country
nationals who are long-term residents5, and a common European asylum regime6.

2
3

4
5
6

COM(2001)167 of 24.03.2000; COM(2001) 628 of 30.10.2001.
Cf., for example; COM(2001) 388, Proposal for a Council Directive relating to the conditions
in which third-country nationals shall have the freedom to travel in the territory of the Member
States for periods not exceeding three months, introducing a specific travel authorisation and
determining the conditions of entry and movement for periods not exceeding six months - OJ
C270E of 25.9.2001. It is worth noting that, for the purposes of achieving the objectives set
out in Title VI of the TEU on “police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters”, the
Community may, under Article 61 of the TEC, propose measures for preventing and
combating crime “in accordance with the provisions of Article 31(e) of the TEU”:

COM(2001) 259 of 23.05.2001, Proposal for a Council framework Decision laying down
minimum provisions on the constituent elements of criminal acts and penalties in the field
of illicit drug trafficking;
COM (2001) 521 of 19.9.2001, Proposal for a Council framework Decision on combating
terrorism.

COM (2001) 386 of 11.07.2001.
COM(2001) 127 of 13.03.2001.
COM(2001) 181 of 03.04.2001, COM(2001) 447 of 26.07.2001, COM(2001) 510 of
19.09.2001.

4

¤
¤
With a view to meeting the objectives laid down in the Treaty concerning asylum and
other policies connected with the free movement of people, Community action is
justified in that the objectives cannot be met adequately by the Member States but
can, because of the scale and effects, be dealt with more effectively at Community
level. Such is the case for the proposal for laying down minimum standards for
the reception of asylum seekers in the Member States. The fact is that common
minimum standards on asylum policy constitute an essential element in the common
European asylum regime armoury. Having a single Member State responsible for a
particular asylum application would be seen by the asylum-seeker as more equitable if
all the Member States offered the same minimum standards.

In addition, these minimum Community standards will help to limit the scale of
secondary movements of asylum-seekers resulting from disparities in reception
conditions from country to country, and will thus have a positive effect on the
national systems’ effectiveness.

In terms of environment policy and social policy, the Treaty seeks to achieve
comparable levels of safety throughout the Community.

The Commission has tabled a proposal for Community legislation on the traceability
and labelling of GMOs7 at all stages of their market life. Its aim is to create a
harmonised framework for the traceability of these products, and as such it constitutes
a source of legal certainty and reflects a logical and consistent approach which will
help the internal market to run smoothly.

In terms of social policy, Community action aimed at attaining comparable levels of
safety and health for workers is the reason for a legislation proposal introducing
minimum safety and health requirements for the use by workers of work equipment
(in this case, scaffolding)8.

The Amsterdam Treaty also lays down new objectives for combating fraud and any
other illegal activity likely to adversely affect the Community’s financial interests
(under Article 280 of the Treaty).

The proposal for a Directive on the criminal-law protection of the Community’s
financial interests9 is designed to give Community-wide coverage to some of the
provisions of the Convention on protection of the Community’s financial interests of
26 July 199510, which has not yet been ratified by all the Member States and does not
therefore apply at European level. The point of the proposal is to achieve convergence
of the Member States’ criminal law on defining what is meant by fraud, corruption
and money-laundering affecting the Community’s financial interests, and on the
question of criminal-law responsibilities and sanctions. The general objective is to

7

8
9
10

COM(2001) 182, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
concerning traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and traceability of
food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and amending
Directive 2001/18/EC.
Directive 2001/45/EC of the EP and of the Council of 27 June 2001.
COM (2001) 272.
This Convention is based on Article K3 of the Treaty on European Union, 26 July 1995, OJ
C 316 of 27.11.1995.

5

seek an equivalent level of protection for the Community’s financial interests in all
the Member States.

Under the EU’s regional policy, systems of management and vetting under the
Structural Funds have been set up without prejudice to the Member States’
institutional, legal and financial systems11.

The Member States are responsible for verifying and, primarily, making regular and
effective use of Community resources, and for dealing with any irregularities and
taking action where there is a major change which is likely to affect the nature or
conditions of implementation.

On the statistics front, the principle of subsidiarity is behind the creation of a
common statistical nomenclature of territorial units (NUTS) with a view to ensuring
that regional statistics are comparable throughout the Community12. It is also worth
mentioning a proposal for gathering statistics of rail transport13 and a common
framework for drawing up, submitting and evaluating comparable labour force cost
indices in the Community14.

On the question of energy saving, the Commission tabled a proposal for a Directive
on the energy performance of buildings, which gave rise to discussion on how the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality should be applied15.

2.3.

Proportionality in 2001

Subsidiarity and proportionality requirements — or, to put it more simply, questions
of expediency and scale — are closely intertwined. However, whereas the subsidiarity
principle applies only to areas in which the Member States and the Community share
competence, the proportionality principle applies to all areas of Community action.
What
is
it says is that no action by the Community should goes beyond what
necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaty (Article 5, third line, of the TEC).

It is also a reflection of the proportionality principle when, in its policy making, the
Community legislates only to the extent necessary (paragraph 6 of the Protocol) and
where Community measures leave as much scope as possible for Member States’
established decision-making and legal arrangements. Where appropriate, and subject
to the need for proper enforcement, Community measures should also provide
Member States with alternative ways of achieving the objectives of Community
action (paragraph 7 of the Protocol).

At a general level, the Commission focused in 2001 on the scope and method of
its interim report to the
Community action by reference to two documents:
Stockholm European Council on improving and simplifying the regulatory
on European Governance17. The
environment16

its White Paper

and

11
12
13
14
15
16

Council Regulations No 438/2001 and No 448/2001.
COM(2001) 83.
OJ C 180 E of 26.06.2001, p.108.
OJ C 304 E of 30.10.2001, p. 184.
See section 2.3 “Proportionality in 2001”.
COM (2001)130.

6

Commission’s report on the regulatory environment sets out a framework for in-depth
and systematic examination of the way the Community regulates, while the White
Paper addresses the issue of effective decision-making and explores the possibility of
using different policy instruments to meet Treaty objectives18. The point of both these
initiatives is to help the Commission to update, inform and consolidate its stance on
the expediency and scale of Community intervention.

the Commission continued to explore and apply the proportionality
Meanwhile,
principle in various specific policy areas. It conducted a dual assessment of
subsidiarity and proportionality requirements in terms of energy conservation, where
its proposal for a Parliament and Council Directive on the energy performance of
buildings19 is founded on the compelling nature of the proposed measures in terms of
achieving the Community’s own objectives for reducing energy dependence, on its
international obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (under the Kyoto
protocol), and on the major differences between Member States’ efforts so far in this
field.

The Commission found that any Community initiative which did not impose an
obligation to act, or to achieve a particular result, would be ineffective in its impact on
the substantial potential for energy saving. The proposed Directive — again in
accordance with proportionality requirements — is concerned only with laying down
general principles and objectives (minimum standards, certification procedures, etc.)
and excludes precise details on implementing and monitoring provisions, which are
left to the Member States.

Proportionality principles were, however, invoked — in the context of a proposed
recast — with regard to a specific area of internal market legislation. The
Commission’s proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation on
fertilisers20 seeks to ensure that these products can circulate freely within the EU and
specifies the characteristics (i.e. composition, labelling and packaging) to which they
must conform. The proposal is aimed in particular at large chemical firms which
importers of mineral fertilisers manufactured
produce mineral fertilisers, and at
outside the EU. The Community’s proposed action of
recasting 18 existing
Directives21 into a single Regulation was found to be warranted because of the need
for harmonised implementing, monitoring and enforcement arrangements
for
Community legislation in this field.

17
18
19
20
21

COM (2001)428.
Consultation on the issues explored in the White Paper runs into the spring of 2002.
COM (2001)226.
COM(2001)508.
See part 4.2.

7

3.

THE COMMUNITY’S LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY IN 2001

An analysis of the Commission’s legislative activity22 shows that, since 1990, there
has been a decline in the total number of proposals, despite the new objectives
enshrined in the Treaty.

Number of Commission proposals
*situationas at26/10/2001

787

704

702

667

596

622

528

549

569

405

400*

493

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Number of proposals for regulations, directives, decisions and
recommendations

3.1.

Consultation

Under the Community decision-making process, the aim of which is to create “an ever
closer union among the peoples of Europe”, all decisions have to be taken “as closely
as possible to the citizen”. The principle of subsidiarity plays its part in meeting this
basic democratic requirement, which features in Article 1 of the Treaty on European
Union.

The first indent of Article 9 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of
subsidiarity and proportionality states that, before proposing legislation and without
prejudice to its right of initiative, the Commission should “consult widely23”.

22 In 2001, the Commission adopted, on the basis of its programme of work, 139 legislative
proposals. Some 90% of all the Commission’s proposals are conditioned by external constraints,
viz.:
the Community’s international obligations (approx. 30%)
instruments deriving from Treaty obligations and secondary law (between 10% and 15%)
adapting existing Community legislation (approx. 20%)
resolutions of the Council or the European Parliament or requests from the social partners and
economic operators (between 20% and 25%).

23

See part 2.1.

8

¤
¤
¤
¤
Consultation documents and reports 2000-2001
situationas at 13.10.01

99

115

89

67

4

3

5

2

Communications

Reports

2001 Green Papers

White Papers

2000

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Green Papers
White Papers
Communications
Reports

Source: Eur-lex database

The Commission’s White Paper on Governance24 proposes making the European
Union’s policy-making process more open so as to get more people and organisations
involved.

Article 138 of the EC Treaty states that any proposal in the social policy field requires
the prior consultation of the social partners. In 2001, the social partners’ opinion was
requested on the possible direction of Community action on the protection of workers’
personal data and on the proposals for modernising and improving work relations,
protecting the health and safety of self-employed persons at work, and on the risks
associated with exposure to asbestos at work.

Negotiations between the social partners on temporary work failed to reach a
conclusion in 2001.

The Commission did a lot of prior consultation of interested parties in the course of
2001, the aim being to enhance transparency and achieve greater involvement on the
part of civil society and economic operators.

This was the case with the European Forum on energy and transport, which the
Commission set up on 12 July 2001. The Forum comprises operators, users,
consumers, trade unions, and representatives of environmental protection, road safety
and academic interests, and will be consulted on forthcoming proposals from the
Commission or, alternatively, later on, providing feedback and acting as a monitoring
centre for Community policies.

24

COM(2001)428.

9

Consultation documents include:

• The White Paper on European Governance25, inviting reactions from the EU
institutions, the Member States, local authorities and civil society on openness,
participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence in the workings of the
EU institutions.

• The Green Paper on consumer protection in the European Union26, which
prompted broad public consultation on the general
lines of future consumer
protection policy to prevent the varying forms of national regulation having such a
restrictive effect on the internal market.

• The White Paper on “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”27,
which proposes Community action to restore balance to the European transport
favouring means of transport which are more environment-friendly,
system,
encourage a more intermodal approach, and deliver more effectiveness and quality
for users.

Legislative activity and consultation

63%

62%

37%

38%

57%

43%

66%

65%

34%

35%

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Legislative proposals Consultation instruments

Source: General Report on the work of
the European Union, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000 - draft report 2001 as at 26.10.2001

25
26
27

See footnotes 16 and 22.
COM(2001) 531 of 3.10.2001.
COM (2001)370 of 12.09.2001.

10

4.

QUALITY LAWMAKING

4.1.

Legal drafting

The Joint practical guide for persons involved in the drafting of legislative texts,
which was called for by the interinstitutional agreement,28 has been finalised in all the
official languages and is now accessible on the Internet (europaTEAM). The guide
gives practical, accessible and clear advice to anyone involved in the legislative
drafting process. In addition, and in compliance with the instructions given under
point (b) of the internal organisational measures under the agreement:

“b) [the institutions] shall organise their respective internal procedures in such a way
that their legal services, including their legal/linguistic experts, may, each for their
own institution, make drafting suggestions in good time, with a view to applying these
guidelines...”

In addition to the checks on the substantive nature of the draft legislation, the quality
of legal drafting has been improved by getting the Legal Service’s lawyer-linguists
group systematically involved at the interservice consultation stage.

4.2.

Recasting, consolidation and codification

Making Community law accessible is one of the major political objectives of the
Community, as was reflected in the conclusions of the Edinburgh European Council
of December 1992.

The White Paper on European Governance stressed the need for the EU to pay
constant attention to making legislative instruments better, more effective and
simpler.

Recasting is one way of addressing this problem. Adopting a more structured
approach will make legislation more accessible.

At its meeting in Helsinki in December 1999, the European Council called for an
inter-institutional agreement on the more structured use of the recasting technique to
be concluded as quickly as possible.

On 12 September 2001,
the Commission adopted an inter-institutional
agreement (between the three institutions) for a more structured use of the
recasting technique for legal acts29.

Having recourse to this technique will make it possible to adopt a single legislative
text which makes the required changes, codifies them with provisions remaining
unchanged from the previous act, and repeals the previous act. This technique will
thus prevent the proliferation of isolated amending acts which often make the corpus
difficult to understand. It will also make the legislation clearer for the new Member
States and their citizens.

28
29

The agreement was published in OJ C 73 of 17.03.1999, p. 1.
SEC(2001)1364.

11

In addition,
fertilisers:

the Commission put

forward an important recasting initiative on

the proposed Regulation embraces four directives and various acts amending them30.

In agricultural policy, the Commission presented nine recasting proposals with a
view to amending 29 legislative acts31.

Codification is a legislative technique for clarifying legal instruments which have
undergone multiple, substantial amendments by setting out the updated text of the
various instruments.

This year, the Commission has presented seven proposals for codification with a view
to replacing 78 legal acts; three of these have been adopted, replacing 13 legal acts.

Proposals for codification pending

• Directive on the marketing of fodder beet seeds – COM(2001) 177

• Directive on the marketing of fodder plant seeds – COM(2001)193

• Directive on the marketing of cereals seeds – COM(2001)196

• Directive on the marketing of potato seeds – COM(2001)192

• Directive on the marketing of the seeds of oil and fibre plants – COM(2001)195

30
31

COM(2001) 508 of 14.09.2001.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2001 of 9 January 2001 laying down detailed rules for
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards methods for the analysis
and quality evaluation of milk and milk products and amending Regulations (EC) No
2771/1999 and (EC) No 2799/1999; Commission Regulation (EC) No 214/2001 of 12 January
2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999
as regards intervention on the market in skimmed-milk powder; Commission Regulation (EC)
No 449/2001 of 2 March 2001 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation
(EC) No 2201/96 as regards the aid scheme for products processed from fruit and vegetables;
Commission Regulation (EC) No 609/2001 of 28 March 2001 laying down detailed rules for
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards operational programmes,
operational funds and Community financial assistance, and repealing Regulation (EC) No
411/97; Commission Regulation (EC) No 883/2001 of 24 April 2001 laying down detailed
rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 as regards trade with third
countries in products in the wine sector; Commission Regulation (EC) No 884/2001 of
24 April 2001 laying down detailed rules of application concerning the documents
accompanying the carriage of wine products and the records to be kept in the wine sector;
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1282/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down detailed rules for
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 as regards the gathering of
information to identify wine products and to monitor the wine market and amending
Regulation (EC) No 1623/2000; Commission Regulation (EC) No 1554/2001 of 30 July 2001
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 as
regards marketing sugar produced in the French overseas departments and equalising the price
conditions with preferential raw sugar; Commission Regulation (EC) No 1557/2001 of 30 July
2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000
on information measures relating to the common agricultural policy.

12

• Directive on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species –

COM(2001)191

• Directive on the marketing of vegetable seeds – COM(2001)194

Proposals for codification adopted

• Directive 2001/23/EC of 12.3.2001 concerning the safeguarding of workers’ rights

in the event of a transfer of ownership

• Directive 2001/25/EC of 4.4.2001 concerning the minimum level of training for

seafarers

• Directive 2001/34/EC of 28.5.2001 on the admission of securities to official stock

exchange listing and on information to be published on those securities

The consolidation effort is being vigorously pursued, and the number of consolidated
measures should have reached 1 240 by the end of 2001, compared with 1 030 at the
end of 2000.

4.3.

Simplification

The Community has continued along the road to simpler legislation, with the aim of
making Community laws more accessible to the citizen.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 993/200132 on rationalising and simplifying the
rules for customs regimes;

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1557/200133 harmonising application arrangements
for information measures under the common agricultural policy for various
sectors of products;

Council Regulation (EC) No 973/2001 laying down certain technical measures for the
conservation of certain stocks of highly migratory species34;

Directive 2001/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the general
system for the recognition of professional qualifications35;

Proposal for a European and Council Directive on the rights of citizens of the Union
and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the
Member States36;

32

33

34
35
36

Commission Regulation (EC) No 993/2001 of 4 May 2001 amending Regulation (EEC) No
2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No
2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, OJ L 141 of 28/05/2001.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1557/2001 of 30 July 2001 laying down detailed rules for
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 on information measures relating to
the common agricultural policy, OJ L 205 of 31/07/2001, p. 0025 – 0032.
OJ L 137 of 19.05.2001, p. 1.
OJ L 206 of 31.07.2001, p. 1.
COM(2001) 257 of 23.05.2001.

13

Communication on completing the internal energy and natural gas market37,
incorporating a package of legislative proposals requiring the repeal of a series of
texts;

Proposal for a Regulation concerning the common organisation of markets in the
goat and sheep meat sectors38, the aim being to replace compensatory payments by a
fixed-sum payment with a view to simplifying the ewe premium: the introduction of a
fixed, predictable amount will facilitate management of the premium scheme and
avoid the cumbersome procedures of monitoring prices and carrying out complicated
calculations.

Over recent years, the Commission has made simplification one of the guiding
principles in its work on reform of the common agricultural policy.

Against this background, the Commission presented a report on the simplification of
agricultural legislation39, setting out the progress made in the field since adoption of
the first report on simplification in April 1999.

To this end, the Commission has decided to concentrate on two aspects, viz.

• making agricultural legislation clearer, more transparent and accessible

• minimising the administrative workload which the common agricultural
policy imposes on farmers and other parties, and on the national and
Community authorities.

The Commission has intensified its efforts under the SLIM40 (simpler legislation for
the internal market) programme. The fifth phase of SLIM41 was launched in April
2001.

Policy sectors selected for this fifth phase are:

• transfer of radioactive waste

• cosmetics

• pesticide residues.

37
38
39
40
41

COM (2001) 125 of 13.03.2001.
COM(2001) 247.
COM(2001) 48.
COM(96) 204.
SEC(2001) 575.

14

5.

CONCLUSIONS

This report indicates to what extent the Community has applied the principles of
subsidiarity and proportionality in its legislative work in 2001.

With effect from 2002, this annual report on the application of the principles of
subsidiarity and proportionality will, as proposed in the White Paper on Governance,
address the main objectives of European Union policies.

15