Page 205 - Секретаријат за законодавство

the Member States, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the
proposed action, be better achieved at the EU level. The subsidiarity prin-
ciple actually requires that the EU must act where the objectives to be pur-
sued can be better attained at the EU level and not to act where objectives
can be satisfactorily attained by the Member States acting individually.

Under the principle of proportionality, the content and form of the EU
action is assessed based on the fact whether it exceeds or not what is
necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties.
The institutions of the EU have to apply those two principles in accordance
with the Protocol on their application. According to the Protocol each draft
legislative act must be justiÞed with regard to the principles of subsidiar-
ity and proportionality. Any draft legislative act should contain a detailed
statement regarding the proper application of these principles. This state-
ment should contain some assessment of the proposal’s Þnancial impact
and, in the case of a directive, of its implications for the rules to be put in
place by Member States, including, where necessary, the regional legisla-
tion. The reasons for concluding that the objective can be better achieved at
the EU level must be substantiated by qualitative and, wherever possible,
quantitative indicators. Furthermore, the Treaty of Lisbon gives the power
to the National Parliaments to ensure the compliance with the principle of
subsidiarity in accordance with the procedure set out in that Protocol.

III. EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION

1. PRIMARY LEGISLATION
The primary law in the legal system of the EU has the highest rank, and all
other legal acts are based on it. It consists of the EU founding treaties and
other main treaties, including accession treaties, which are main sources
of the EU law. The Treaties were concluded between and by the govern-
ments of all EU Member States acting by consensus. They created a specif-
ic legal order in which Member States limited their sovereign rights, and
whose subjects are not only Member States but also their citizens.
Today, after the Lisbon Treaty the founding treaties of the European
Union are:

- The Treaty on the European Union, and

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