General competence and subsidiarity

Which way the residue runs

In most unitary states the centre holds everything not given away. Here it is reversed. The commune holds general competence and may act on any matter concerning the life of its territory. The sub-region, region and centre hold only what is enumerated for them.

The four tiers

Commune: housing, water, waste, local roads, schools and clinics, libraries, local ecology.

Sub-region: watersheds, school and clinic networks, local transport, works serving several communes, rescue.

Region: cross-boundary infrastructure, hospitals, universities, protected areas, regional balance.

Centre: the Constitution, rights, ecology, criminal law, courts, treaties, national systems, and standards that must be identical everywhere in the Republic.

When a higher tier may act

Only where scale, effects beyond one territory, or the equality the Constitution requires put the matter beyond the tier below. The reasons must be stated in the text that assigns it, and the assignment is reviewable and revisable.

Local knowledge

On local ecological condition, local need and local practice, the knowledge held locally prevails. Where a national measure of execution and a local one conflict, the local measure applies, unless the national one protects the minimum core, the budgets, or equality between territories.