Editing Directive (European Union) (section)

==Justifications==
Directives commence with a preamble and a number of [[Recital (law)|recitals]] which provide treaty contexts, references to other relevant legislation, and principles seen as justifying the terms of the directive.<ref>Humphreys, L., Santos, C., di Caro, L., Boella, G., van der Torre, L. and Robaldo, L. (2015), [https://icr.uni.lu/leonvandertorre/papers/jurix2015.pdf Mapping Recitals to Normative Provisions in EU Legislation to Assist Legal Interpretation], accessed on 10 April 2025</ref>

There are justifications for using a directive rather than a regulation: (i) it complies with the EU's desire for [[subsidiarity#General principle of European Union law|"subsidiarity"]]; (ii) it acknowledges that different member States have different legal systems, legal traditions and legal processes; and (iii) each Member State has leeway to choose its own statutory wording, rather than accepting the Brussels' official "[[Eurospeak]]" terminology.{{cn|date=October 2019}} For example, while EU Directive 2009/20/EC (which simply requires all vessels visiting EU ports to have [[Protection and indemnity insurance|P&I]] cover) could have been a regulation (without requiring member states to implement the directive), the desire for subsidiarity was paramount, so a directive was the chosen vehicle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2012/190|title=UK implementation of EU Directive 2009/20/EC on the insurance of ship-owners for maritime claims - Impact Assessment}}</ref>{{not in citation|date=October 2019}}{{OR|date=October 2019}}