Managing relationships between levels of governance and the active subsidiarity principle

In this 8th session, we will mostly go into greater depth on the 5th principle of governance: articulation of its various levels. For those who were intrigued by Pierre Calame’s memory aid, it will provide further details. However this 5th principle goes against the grain of received ideas, particularly in France, where ‘skills blocks’ were used as a basis for laws on decentralisation.

The idea of multi-level governance is more widely accepted in Brussels than in Paris, as illustrated by the white paper on multi-level governance published in 2009 by the EC’s Committee of the Regions. But if the principle is not translated into concrete action, it may remain a simple plea from the regions for wider recognition of their power. This is why we will spend some time examining how to implement multi-level governance, and developing the concept of active subsidiarity.