“Croatia advocates a functional EU, focused on what’s important and closer to the citizens,” said Assistant Minister Hrvoje Marušić at a session of the Croatian Parliament’s European Affairs Committee held on the issue of subsidiarity in the EU legal proceedings. In his address to the MPs, Croatian MEPs, representatives of the diplomatic corps, European institutions, academic community and civil society, Parliament Speaker Josip Leko stressed the importance of national parliaments’ involvement in scrutinizing the principle of subsidiarity, as well as mutual cooperation and coordination in that process.
Marušić said that the implementation of subsidiarity was an important political issue and that citizens needed to be aware that European regulations had a direct impact on their everyday lives.
We want an EU that’s closer to the citizens, which does not mean that its regulations need to enter every pore of their lives, but that the EU needs to define guidelines and a framework while leaving the details to the bodies close to the citizens, i.e. national, regional and local bodies. That is the point of subsidiarity.
The duty of state institutions is to inform the citizens and include them in discussions about the topical EU matters, as well as contribute to the current discussion on subsidiarity, which Croatia sees as an opportunity for creating a better and more focused EU. The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is indirectly involved in checking out the principle of subsidiarity through national coordination of positions for EU Council meetings, and has excellent cooperation with the parliament in that regard.
Explaining the other countries’ initiatives regarding subsidiarity, Marušić said Croatia was especially interested in those aimed at improving the functioning of the EU within the existing agreements.
Marušić underlined the importance of a continuous and quality informing of the citizens about all European topics, as well as the role of media in that process, announcing that the issue of subsidiarity would be discussed also at the series of seminars and round tables titled “Get Informed and Make a Difference” that the ministry has prepared for the period ahead of the European elections.