Princípio da subsidiariedade na jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal: uma análise dos conflitos de competência entre os entes federativos no período de 1988 a 2022

Abstract

This research sought to analyze to what extent the Federal Supreme Court applies the principle of subsidiarity as a method of solving conflicts of competence between federative entities. For that, judgments were analyzed in the context of concentrated control of constitutionality within the scope of the STF, in the period from 1988 to 2022, which discussed who had the competence to edit a certain legislative act or to implement a certain public policy. As a method of procedure, Lawrence Bardin's content analysis was used, with the use of the categorical analysis technique, to study the selected judgments, according to the parameters established for the research. Before that, an investigation was carried out on the origin and meaning of the principle of subsidiarity and its application as a method of sharing competences. Afterwards, the presence of the principle of subsidiarity in comparative law was verified, with emphasis on the European Union, Germany, Italy and Portugal. An analysis was carried out of the models of division of competences adopted by Brazil, from the 1891 Constitution to the 1988 Constitution. It was found that, within the scope of Brazilian constitutional law, some scholars defend that the 1988 Constitution incorporated, even if implicitly, the idea of subsidiarity in the division of tasks between the Union, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities, in the field of common and concurrent competences. Finally, the research found that the STF still does not apply the principle of subsidiarity as a technique for sharing competences, in the sense of favoring local initiatives to the detriment of the central entity. Despite the theme having been raised on several occasions, however, the debate is still incipient.