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Plassnik: Subsidiarity one of the remedies for the public’s feeling of lack of involvement

Breaking the logjam on the Constitutional Treaty not realistic at present

“This subsidiarity conference has been a breath of fresh air, a real boost to confidence. It is exactly what we need in Europe at the present time. We have heard many excellent ideas, all sorts of concrete and practical proposals. Subsidiarity is what binds together the different levels of the European process. But it does have to be monitored”, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said in her opening statement at the European Subsidiarity Conference ‘Europe begins at home’. “The European Union is an organisation that is able to learn. The potential for better interaction and cooperation between the levels in this new European Union is by no means exhausted. Europe should be a continent of confidence, for our own timidity is the biggest impediment to progress in the European project”, she continued. Plassnik promised to take up the many ideas and discuss them in the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Plassnik said the content of this conference coincided with the Austrian Presidency’s priorities. "Our priority is to create confidence. We’re looking for measures to build up confidence and subsidiarity is certainly one of them. Even though it is an unwieldy concept — the public know exactly what is meant. Subsidiarity is a very practical experience. It is the experience each and every one of us has in the home, at work, in our neighbourhood, in our community. We must regulate when it is useful to regulate, at the level where you can really achieve something and where it has added value."

In her opening statement Plassnik also referred to the planned informal meeting of foreign ministers to debate the future of Europe. We must be realistic. We should not have any illusions. Let me utter a clear word of warning here: it is not realistic to expect we will be able to break the logjam on the Constitutional Treaty under the Austrian Presidency in June. This is not because of any lack of effort or lack of will on the part of the Austrian Presidency, but rather because this discussion has not yet been fully carried out in some Member States and so we cannot come up with a solution yet. But this does not mean we won’t talk about it or that we refuse to discuss it. For refusing to talk about it would be poison, and not a way of building up confidence. We do have to talk to each other and we must not shy away from difficult issues”, Plassnik stressed.