Özet:

In a technical sense the ·Maastricht Treaty is an amendment of the Treaty of Rome founding the European Economic Community but, in substance, it expands the area of Community activity and advances further West European economic and political integration. However, whilst adding new dimensions to the existing design it also, for the time being, sets limits to Community activity by providing that "any action of the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Jreaty" and that the Community will act "only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States"1 • This double brake reflects the so-called "subsidiarity principle" which confirms that the relationship between the Member States and the Community is based on a dele,gation of sovereignty, the powers vested in the Community being limited in scope and their exercise confined to what is necessary to achieve the common objectives which exceed the capacity of any single Member State. The principle safeguards the residual powers of the Member States and guards against the adventurism of the Community institutions and the ambitions of their bureaucracy.

Anahtar Kelimeler: