How To Improve EU Policy – Making Process for the Next Five Years?

Smart regulation and cutting red tape is a top priority for businesses. The policy-making process is a constant activity and needs to be adapted to new developments. Current Commission have dealt with many initiatives in the field of smart regulation policy. Still, a lot of work remains and further effort is expected from those who will embark on the next 5-year mandate.

The EU reduction target of 25 % by 2012 was achieved though not noticed by businesses and a lot of uncounted administrative burden was added meanwhile. If there is any new reduction target adopted by heads of states at EU or national level, it has to bear in mind new regulation as well. Regardless constant effort to cutting red tape, the most burdensome fact for companies is a frequent legislative change. Common commencement dates at EU and national level could be a remedy and help companies to prepare for a specific legislation to a certain date.

The EU policy-making needs to highlight better regulation in all of its stages of political cycle, i.e. from agenda setting, via public consultations, legislative process to evaluation. It requires engagement and cooperation of all the three EU institutions – Commission, Parliament and Council. Each of them needs to define a clear vision regarding smart regulation and set up internal rules respected by all services involved. Consistency and better quality of impact assessments should be improved. More efforts need to be done in the Council when it comes to substantive changes in proposed legislation. Consultation with stakeholders on impact assessments could render their quality better providing their masters with information on cumulative costs and feedback from the ground. The EU with its twenty eight members will always strike with diverse implementation of a particular EU legislative act. There might be a difference regarding time and effort of the administrative control on the ground. For this reason Member States must carefully examine consequences of the transposed EU regulation into the national law and avoid any gold-plating. Here also stakeholders ́ opinions count. Businesses should be consulted on the regulation transposed and central websites with transposition deadlines and national law concerned in real-time could improve the consultation on EU legislation to be transposed.

Evaluation of implemented regulation provides evidence-based critical analysis of whether the actions are fit for purpose and delivering as expected. Many initiatives brought by the EU smart regulation policy such as REFIT and ABR+ help the Commission and Member States to focus on the priority areas. However skepticism remains about the capacity of Member States to analyse the real impact of measured implemented legislation as well as the consistency in the process.