By day, Richard Medić is a mild mannered spokesman for the Assembly of European Regions, but it is his alter-ego that has been making the news. As Subsidiarity Man, he has founded a movement to have the word subsidiarity included in all the world’s dictionaries, with the slogan, “Subsidiarity is a word”.
Subsidiarity Man being driven away after being arrested for trying to climb Residence Palas
His actions have included jumping off a high bridge in Mostar, whilst a 5,000 strong crowd chanted “subsidijarnost” and an attempt to climb Residence Palas, where he manged to get arrested. He agreed to return to the scene of the crime and we settled into the Palas cafe to explain his obsession with this piece of eurospeak.
So, how was Subsidiarity Man born? “It all started when I first joined AER and I was drafting my first press release and I typed subsidiarity in a Microsoft Word document and a red line appeared under it. I checked the spelling and realised that Word didn’t recognise it. I thought it was absurd because AER has been lobbying for the subsidiarity principle to be included in the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. I realised that we couldn’t get people to respect the principle if they didn’t recognise the word. The first step was to get the word recognised by Microsoft and by dictionaries.”
Recognition of the word is more eccentric than Medić’s enthusiasm, for example Word in French and German includes subsidiarity in its spellchecker, whereas the English and Italian versions don’t. In Wikipedia, the definition is frequently wrong, as is the definition in Dictionary.com. How does Medić define the word? “It’s basically the principle that decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the citizen, but subsidiarity is more than just eurospeak, it’s a principle that has been around for centuries. Subsidiarity starts with the individual, if you can’t make a decision yourself, you take it to a higher level until you reach one that can make a decision. It’s a bottom up principle, not the top down centralised approach we see all too often.”
Climate change is a global issue that requires a global solution, but Medić explains how subsidiarity fits in, “At AER we talk a lot about co-ordination and subsidiarity and these issues need to be co-ordinated at a central level, but that doesn’t mean that the local level, or grassroots is not important. The best initiatives start in local communities, such as a school starting something or a council that can be replicated. It’s about multi-level governance and that the different layers should be working with each other.” There does seem to be a glorious eccentricity to the campaign, “Well its a movement not a campaign. Campaigns are limited propaganda exercises, but we hope to build and build the movement. Recognising the word is only the first stage, the second is to respect the principle. We started this with a glint in our eye, we are conscious that it is a very serious issue but we realise that this is an unusual issue, something different so we’ve taken a unique approach. We’re hearing from people all over the world, including an environmental activist who is using subsidiarity in a grassroots level organisation, for example.”
As Brussels hosts up to 100 press conferences a day, something special was needed for the launch of the movement, so he decided to climb Residence Palas, initially he contacted Alain Robert, the famous climber of buildings, but he was too expensive, so Medić decided to do it himself, wearing a suit as a disguise and a 17 kilo banner, he planned to unfurl. Sadly, someone had tipped off the cops and he was arrested and had his banner confiscated for six months.
The police have just handed him back the banner. Expect to hear more of Subsidiarity Man in the near future. Keep your eyes open.
