Subsidiarity is a word

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) launched in 2008 the 'Subsidiarity is a word' movement to demand inclusion of the word in every dictionary of every language worldwide.

A first round of open letters were sent to 71 dictionaries – covering 23 European languages – that had in previous editions failed to include the word. AER also wrote to Microsoft to demand removal of the 'red squiggly line' that appears when the word is typed in some language versions of MS Word.

Although the definition of 'subsidiarity' may differ slightly between dictionaries and languages, the word in its political context can be defined generically as 'the principle that decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the citizen'.

This principle is a pillar of AER’s vision of a 'Europe of the regions', a Europe that respects the idea of bottom-up governance and empowers regional authorities to take decisions based upon the unique needs of their citizens.