Since its establishment in 2007, the
Subsidiarity Monitoring Network (SMN) has regularly consulted its members on compliance of EU initiatives with the subsidiarity principle. The network was set up to facilitate the exchange of information between local and regional authorities in the European Union and the European institutions regarding EU initiatives which, once adopted, will have a direct impact on these authorities and the policies for which they are responsible. At present it has
138 members and operates through its website, where partners are also free to submit their subsidiarity assessments,
www.cor.europa.eu\subsidiarity.
This newsletter provides information on the activities carried out through the SMN in the first semester of 2012, its main events and future projects. A second newsletter for 2012 will be published at the end of the year.
"Subsidiarity means allocating responsibilities to the most appropriate levels of government, based on the principle that decisions should be taken at the closest possible level to the public"
Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso
Coordinator of the SMN and First Vice-President of the CoR
