EU regions target dictionaries over subsidiarity

Europe’s regions have launched a campaign for therecognition of the word ‘subsidiarity’ by dictionary compilersacross the EU.

Subsidiarity – which is generally defined as “the principle thatdecisions should be taken as closely as possible to the citizen” –is the core principle of EU regional policy.

The new Lisbon treaty gives the regions greater powers than everbefore to monitor and assess the compliance with the subsidiarityprinciple – even though the word itself is not recognised by manyEuropean dictionaries.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER), the Strasbourg-basedregional association which includes members from within and outsidethe EU, has begun a major campaign to rectify the situation,sending letters to 71 dictionaries – covering 23 European languages– that have thus far failed to include the word.

The AER has also written to Microsoft to demand removal of thered line that appears when the word is typed in some languageversions of MS Word, meaning that it is not recognised by thedictionary.

The AER says that the vast majority of Europeans believe thatsubsidiarity – allowing regional authorities to take decisionsbased upon the unique needs of their citizens – should be acornerstone of European policy, citing a Eurobarometer poll fromFebruary 2008 which showed that eight out of 10 citizens sharedthat vision.

The ‘Subsidiarity is a word’ campaign got off to a controversialstart on Monday when AER spokesman Richard Medic was arrested infront of the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters in Brusselsbefore attempting to climb a building opposite and fix a posteropposite the office of president José Manuel Barroso.

Michèle Sabban, acting president of AER, said that the launchwas just the first step. “In the true spirit of the principle ofsubsidiarity, we are encouraging grass-roots action by our memberregions and other partners across the world, firstly to secure fullrecognition of the word, and then to ensure that the EU andnational governments respect the principle not only on paper, butin practice.”

In his letter to the dictionary editors and Microsoft, AERsecretary-general Klaus Klipp points out that the “treaty of Lisbonmentions the word subsidiarity no less than 30 times” and that “weare therefore puzzled that the word, despite its frequent use inEuropean politics and law in particular, has been excluded fromnumerous dictionaries in languages across Europe and theworld”.

He added: “We are especially concerned by the fact that the EU,its member states and other nations are expected to respect aprinciple based upon a word so many dictionaries – and thereforecitizens – do not even recognise.”

The AER campaign kicks off as the Committee of the Regions, the‘official’ regional assembly of the EU, holds a conference debateon the principle of subsidiarity in Brussels.

CoR president Luc Van den Brande agreed that the word is unknownto most EU citizens. “If we carried out a poll in the street tocanvas people's views on it, I wouldn't be surprised if less thanone in 10 knew what subsidiarity means or were in a position to saywhether it's important,” he said in an interview ahead of themeeting.

And he concurred that once people did understand what it meant,they were largely in favour of it.

“When they know what subsidiarity signifies, people do regard itas an important issue in my experience. Ensuring that all levels ofgovernment have a stake in the decision-making process is at theheart of democracy, accountability and transparency.”

But although the Lisbon treaty gives the CoR the right to takecountries to court if they do not follow the subsidiarityprinciple, Van den Brande said it was unlikely that the committeewould take such a high-profile stance as the AER.

“We are committed representatives of local and regionalauthorities, but we are committed Europeans too. We are not lookingto undermine the EU decision-making process, but to improve it,” hesaid.

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