Die räumliche Perspektive der Europäischen Union: Territorialität, Subsidiarität, Finalität?

The paper reflects the territorial perspective of the European Union and starts with the reference to three strands of debates that are currently active on the interface of political geography and European law. First, since the 1990s we see a debate on a possible competence on the European level for spatial planning. In this context, the principle of subsidiarity is discussed controversially. Second, the debate on EU enlargements refers to the concept of finality. Third, we refer to the discussion on the principle of territoriality. Prevailing on the national level, this principle is very much disputed on the European level.We confront this very political debate. The starting point is here the discussion on the principle of territoriality which can be considered as the most comprehensive one.In a first step we differentiate between analytical and normative elements of the debate. In a second step we propose a categorisation that comprises territorial, moderate relational and radical relational approaches. In a last step, we position the concepts of subsidiarity and finality to the different understanding of territoriality.