Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T18:17:22.684Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Qui Exanimis Nascitur? Can “Better Regulation” in the European Union really be a Servant of Technocracy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Morten JARLBÆK PEDERSEN
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Better regulation is of grave importance to the European Union, as it is seen as a way of obtaining output legitimacy. To achieve this, the European Commission has established a so-called REFIT Stakeholder Platform where stakeholders’ proposals for more effective and efficient EU law are discussed. The central premise for this meta-regulatory instrument is depoliticisation of the REFIT program and the whole better regulation agenda. To ensure this, the European Commission plays a crucial gatekeeping role by only granting access for proposals that echo that premise and by securing depoliticised deliberation afterwards. Utilising a novel typology linking regulatory reform proposals to the risk of politicisation, the argument advanced in this article is that only a minority of the proposals to be considered by Platform members have a low risk of depoliticisation. This, it is argued, is due to the Commission not having a sufficiently well-developed understanding of the premises for REFIT it has itself established.

Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on the Implementation in Europe of the WHO Recommendations on Food Marketing to Children , June 2017 , pp. 387 - 402
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

PhD student at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. This article is a result of a research project on sources of better regulation in Denmark and the EU co-sponsored by the Confederation of Danish Enterprise (“Dansk Erhverv”). A previous version of this paper was presented at a seminar held at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen in May 2016. The author wishes to thank everyone participating – especially associate professor Manuele Citi, Copenhagen Business School, and the department’s own post.doc. Lars Kai Mäder and PhD student Benjamin Carl Krag Egerod – for critical, yet very valuable ideas and comments. The author also wishes to thank Professor Peter Nedergaard, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, for useful comments on earlier drafts.

References

1 European Commission, “Press release – Better Regulation Agenda: Enhancing transparency and scrutiny for better EU law-making”, May 2015, available at <www.europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4988_en.htm> (accessed 31 March 2017).

2 Radaelli, Claudio M, “Towards better research on better regulation” Advanced Colloquium on Better Regulation, Centre for Regulatory Governance, University of Exeter (2007), available at <https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10036/23973> (accessed 27 March 2017)+(accessed+27+March+2017)>Google Scholar; Radaelli, Claudio M, “Whither Better Regulation for the Lisbon Agenda?” (2007) 14 Journal of European Public Policy 190 Google Scholar; Robinson, William, “Time for Coherent Rules on EU Regulation” (2015) 3 The Theory and Practice of Regulation 257 Google Scholar; Voermans, Wim, “Concern about the quality of EU legislation: what kind of problem, by what kind of standards?” (2009) 2 Erasmus Law Review 59 Google Scholar.

3 Baldwin, Robert, “Better Regulation: The Search and the Struggle” in Robert Baldwin, Martin Lodge, Martin Cave (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Regulation (Oxford University Press 2010) 259 Google Scholar.

4 Cini, Michelle, The European Commission (Manchester University Press 1996) 16 Google Scholar; Coombes, David, Politics and Bureacracy in the European Community. A Portrait of the Commission of the EEC (George Allen and Unwin 1970)Google Scholar.

5 Harcourt, Alison J and Radaelli, Claudio M., “Limits to EU technocratic regulation?” (1999) 35 European Journal of Political Research 107 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 108.

6 Robinson, supra note 2, 277.

7 Radaelli, Claudio M and Meuwese, Anne CM, “Better Regulation in Europe” (2009) 87 Public Administration 639 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Radaelli, , “Towards better research on better regulation”, supra note 2Google Scholar; Radaelli, Claudio M and de Francesco, Fabrizio, “Regulatory Impact Assessment” in Baldwin, Lodge and Cave (eds), supra note 3, 279 Google Scholar; Torriti, Jacopo, “Impact Assessment in the EU” (2007) 10 Journal of Risk Research 239 Google Scholar.

9 Baldwin, supra note 3.

10 The concept of output legitimacy and its importance to the EU is, for instance, discussed by Bang, Henrik, Jensen, Mads D, Nedergaard, Peter, “‘We the People’ versus ‘We the Heads of States’: the debate on the democratic deficit of the European Union” (2015) 36 Policy Studies 196 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Scharpf, Fritz W, Governing in Europe. Effective and Democratic? (Oxford University Press 1999)Google Scholar; Scharpf, Fritz W, “Legitimacy in the Multilevel European Polity” (2009) 1 European Political Science Review 173 Google Scholar. For a superficial discussion of the special relationship between regulatory quality and output legitimacy, see

Pedersen, Morten Jarlbæk, “Kilder til output-legitimitet: et overset perspektiv?” (2016) 3 Samfundsøkonomen 14 Google Scholar.

11 European Commission, “Press release - Better Regulation Agenda: Enhancing transparency and scrutiny for better EU law-making”, supra note 1.

12 Pedersen, Morten Jarlbæk, “Defining ‘Better’. Investigating a New Framework to Understand Quality of Regulation” (2016) 18 European Journal of Law Reform 158 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Majone, Giandomenico, “The rise of the regulatory state in Europe” (1994) 17 West European Politics 77 Google Scholar; Majone, Giandomenico, Regulating Europe (Routledge 1996)Google Scholar; Majone, Giandomenico, “The Regulatory State and Its Legitimacy Problems” (1999) 22 West European Politics 1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 European Commission, “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: EU Regulatory Fitness”, COM(2012) 746 final, 3.

15 This conceptual distinction is discussed by Knill, Christoph et al., “Regulatory Policy Outputs and Impacts: Exploring a Complex Relationship” (2012) 6 Regulation and Governance 427 Google Scholar. It is also a central part of the theoretical apparatus developed below.

16 Supra note 14.

17 ibid 4.

18 European Commission, “European Governance – A White Paper”, COM(2001) 428 final.

19 Mandelkern, et al., “Mandelkern Group on Better Regulation: Final Report”, available at <www.ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/better_regulation/documents/mandelkern_report.pdf> (accessed 27 March 2017)+(accessed+27+March+2017)>Google Scholar.

20 Nugent, Neill and Rhinard, Mark, The European Commission (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) 295–296 Google Scholar; Voermans, supra note 2Google Scholar; Weatherill, Stephen, “The Challenge of Better Regulation” in Stephen Weatherill (ed.), Better Regulation (Hart Publishing 2007) 1 Google Scholar.

21 Smismans, Stijn, “Policy Evaluation in the EU” (2015) 6 European Journal of Risk Regulation 6 Google Scholar.

22 Robinson, Google Scholar, supra note 2.

23 Bartl, Aleš, “REFIT of Food Legislation” (2015) 10 European Food & Feed Law Review 84 Google Scholar.

24 Robinson, supra note 2, 260–62.

25 European Commission, “REFIT – making EU law lighter, simpler and less costly”, 2 March 2016, available at <www.ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/refit/refit-platform/index_en.htm> (accessed 27 March 2017).

26 European Commission, “Commission Decision of 19.5.2015 Establishing the REFIT Platform”, C(2015) 3261 final.

27 Ibid recitals 3 and 4.

28 European Commission, “Issues Paper 1. Objectives, Tasks and Work Programme of the REFIT Platform”, Ref. Ares(2016)232801; European Commission, “Issues Paper 2. Rules of Procedure, Working Arrangements and Timeline”, Ref. Ares(2016)232801.

29 European Commission, “REFIT Platform – Invitation to the first Stakeholder group meeting”, Ref. Ares(2016)1168072; European Commission, “REFIT Platform – Invitation to the second Stakeholder group meeting”, Ref. Ares(2016)1168072.

30 European Commission, “Issues Paper 1”, supra note 28, at p. 2.

31 European Commission, “Establishing the REFIT Platform”, supra note 26 Art. 4.

32 ibid Art. 4(3).

33 European Commission, “Issues Paper 1”, supra note 28, 1.

34 Knill et al., supra note 15.

35 For a discussion and definition of this concept, see Pedersen, Morten Jarlbæk and Pasquali, Simon “Regelforenkling og administrative lettelser – med panden mod muren?” (2009) 12 Tidsskriftet Politik 65, 67–68 Google Scholar.

36 Flyvbjerg, Bent, “Five Misunderstandings about Case-Study Research” (2006) 12 Qualitative Inquiry 219–245 Google Scholar.

37 Pierson, Paul, “Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics” (2000) 94 The American Political Science Review 251 Google Scholar; Pierson, Paul and Skocpol, Theda, “Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science” in Ira Katznelson and Helen Milner (eds), Political Science: The State of the Discipline (WW Norton 2002) 693 Google Scholar.

38 See, for instance, van den Abeele, Eric, “The EU”s REFIT Strategy: A New Bureaucracy in the Service of Competitiveness?”, 2014/05 ETUI Working Paper Google Scholar, 14.

39 Neuendorf, Kimberley A, The Content Analysis Guidebook (Sage 2002)Google Scholar; Krippendorff, Klaus, “Testing the Reliability of Content Analysis Data – What Is Involved and Why” in Klaus Krippendorff and Mary Angela Bock (eds), The Content Analysis Reader (Sage 2008)Google Scholar.

40 Hall, Peter A, “Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policy-making in Britain” (1993) 25 Comparative Politics 275 Google Scholar.

41 Fliedner, Ortlieb, “Gute Gesetzgebung. Welche Möglichkeiten gibt es, bessere Gesetze zu machen?” FES-Analyse Verwaltungspolitik, available at <library.fes.de/pdf-files/stabsabteilung/01147.pdf> (accessed 31 March 2017) 7–9+(accessed+31+March+2017)+7–9>Google Scholar.

42 Hansen, Hanne Foss and Pedersen, Lene Holm, “The Dynamics of Regulatory Reform” in Tom Christensen and Per Lægreid (eds), Autonomy and Regulation (Edward Elgar 2006) 328 Google Scholar.

43 Pedersen and Pasquali, supra note 35.

44 Mousmouti, Maria, “Effectiveness as an Aspect of Quality of EU Legislation” (2014) 2 The Theory and Practice of Legislation 309 Google Scholar.

45 Pedersen, supra note 12.

46 See, for instance, Pedersen and Pasquali, supra note 35.

47 Knill et al., supra note 15, 429.

48 ibid.

49 Hansen and Pedersen, supra note 42; Pedersen and Pasquali, supra note 35.

50 European Commission, “Issues Paper 1” and “Issues Paper 2”, supra note 28.

51 Radaelli, Claudio M and de Francesco, Fabrizio, Regulatory Quality in Europe: Concepts, Measures and Policy Processes (Manchester University Press 2007)Google Scholar.

52 Baldwin, supra note 3; Radaelli, “Towards better research on better regulation”, supra note 2; Torriti, supra note 8.

53 Mousmouti, supra note 44.

54 Voermans, supra note 2.

55 Pedersen, supra note 12.

56 For example Bormann, Anne Louise et al., Loven. Om udarbejdelse af lovforslag (Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag 2002)Google Scholar; Painter, Judge Mark, Legal Writer: 40 Rules for the Art of Legal Writing (Jarndyce & Jarndyce 2009)Google Scholar or the EU counterparts mentioned in Robinson, supra note 2, 263–64.

57 See also Pnnisi, Giulia Adriana, “Plain Language: Improving Legal Communication” (2014) 16 European Journal of Law Reform and the articles following that editorialGoogle Scholar.

58 Kaeding, Michael, “In search of better quality of EU regulations for prompt transposition” (2008) 14(5) European Law Journal 583 Google Scholar.

59 Radaelli, Claudio M, “Getting to Grips with Quality in the Diffusion of Regulatory Impact Assessment in Europe” (2004) 24 Public Money and Management 271 Google Scholar; Radaelli, and de Francesco, Google Scholar, supra note 51; Stern, Jon and Holder, Stuart, “Regulatory governance” (1999) 8 Utilities Policy 33 Google Scholar; Wiener, Jonathan B, “Better Regulation in Europe” 65 Duke Law School Faculty Scholarship Series, available at <www.ecipe.org/media/publication_pdfs/Better_Regulation_in_Europe.pdf> (accessed 27 March 2017)+(accessed+27+March+2017)>Google Scholar.

60 Hall, Elizabeth et al., “The Consumer Rights Directive – An Assessment of its Contribution to the Development of European Consumer Contract Law” (2012) 8 European Review of Contract Law 139 Google Scholar.

61 Neuendorf, supra note 39.

62 Krippendorff, supra note 39.

63 Renda, Andrea, “Too Good to Be True? A Quick Assessment of the European Commission’s New Better Regulation Package”, CEPS Special Report 108 (Center for Policy Studies 2015)Google Scholar.