conferral

Which translation, when

Why

Conferral is the Grundsatz der begrenzten Einzelermächtigung, the first of the competence principles in Art. 5 EUV. It answers a single question: does the Union have the power at all. Under Art. 5 Abs. 2 EUV the Union acts only within the competences the Member States have conferred on it in the Treaties, and Satz 2 makes the residual point that every competence not conferred remains with the Member States. From this follows the much-cited proposition that the Union has no Kompetenz-Kompetenz: it cannot, by its own act, expand the list of its competences, which are set out in the Treaties, chiefly Art. 2 ff. AEUV. Conferral must be kept apart from the two principles that share Art. 5. Conferral concerns the delimitation of competences, Art. 5 Abs. 1 Satz 1 EUV, the prior question whether a competence exists; subsidiarity and proportionality, Art. 5 Abs. 1 Satz 2 EUV, concern the exercise of a competence that already exists, whether and how the Union should use it. A translation that renders conferral loosely, as a mere transfer, or that lets it blur into subsidiarity, loses the structural point that the Union is a body of conferred, not inherent, powers. So the word names the source and the limit of Union competence.

Typical mistakes

• Conferral answers whether the Union has a competence at all, Art. 5 Abs. 1 Satz 1 EUV, so treating it as a rule on how an existing competence is exercised confuses it with subsidiarity.
• It carries the residual rule that competences not conferred remain with the Member States, Art. 5 Abs. 2 Satz 2 EUV, so dropping that understates it.
• The settled German term is der Grundsatz der begrenzten Einzelermächtigung, so rendering conferral as a bare Übertragung misses the term of art.

What matters

Rendering an EU-competence question, the translation should use der Grundsatz der begrenzten Einzelermächtigung for conferral, note that the Union acts only within conferred competences and that the rest remain with the Member States, Art. 5 Abs. 2 EUV, and keep it distinct from subsidiarity, which governs the exercise of a competence the Union already holds.

Examples