EU regulation reform risks falling short for business competitiveness
The European Commission's new plan to streamline EU lawmaking introduces useful tech tools but fails to fix structural flaws that increase compliance costs and frustrate businesses.
In late April, the European Commission presented "A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook," a communication aimed at improving lawmaking quality, transparency, and the management of national gold-plating. However, a new evaluation by Consumer Choice Center Europe warns the proposed actions lack the ambition required to keep the European economy competitive.
The communication does include some welcome changes. The Commission will now record procedural derogations in explanatory memoranda and directly notify stakeholders when consultation summaries are published on the "Have Your Say" portal. Most significantly for businesses, the executive proposed a new IT tool to track implementing rules and identify regulatory overlaps across the bloc's complex framework.
Despite these steps, the reforms leave critical procedural bottlenecks intact. The Commission failed to address widespread criticism of its public consultation designs. It retained the right to slash the standard 12-week consultation window to just six weeks, vaguely promising to avoid holiday periods "whenever possible." Additionally, the urgency procedure remains too broad, with triggers like "legal deadlines" and a "political context creating a need for urgent action" capable of justifying almost any procedural shortcut.
These institutional flaws are compounded by a capacity crisis in national governments. Individual member states are increasingly unable to keep up with the EU's legislative pace, leaving them unable to proactively shape rules that affect their domestic economies. While the Commission is reportedly considering sending extra manpower to capitals, these governments remain fundamentally understaffed.
This regulatory drift directly threatens Europe's economic standing. As Mario Draghi recently noted, the EU must evolve into a pragmatic federation to sustain its global competitiveness. If businesses feel shut out of the process, they will continue to operate in Europe despite its regulations, rather than because of them.
Without stricter enforcement of better regulation principles, the paper warns that a failure to improve both the speed and quality of EU lawmaking will exacerbate internal tensions, fuel political populism, and strengthen anti-EU sentiment.
