Das Subsidiaritätsprinzip als verfassungsgenerierender Modus

The principle of subsidiarity can be seen as a way of generating constitutional law because it covers an essential part of procedural constitutional provisions, i. e. the allocation of competences between member states and Community. In particular it proves to be a standard of constitutional quality because it takes into account, even enhances, the dynamic, success-oriented nature of the Community without leaving justified needs of legitimation unsatisfied. Its legal-dogmatic design means, as a result of the Amsterdam protocol of subsidiarity, that Community Institutions have to give reasons for their exercise of competence in every specific instance. In the case of environmental legal acts, compliance with this obligation is monitored. The discursive procedures attached to these legislative acts can also be understood as learning processes which lead to an increasingly better understanding of the meaning of the principle of subsidiarity as a way of generating constitutional law, and which also help this notion to gain acceptance and further development in the discussion on law and politics