Better regulation in Europe: an action plan for the next Commission

Summary:

European businesses are far more likely than US firms to cite regulation as a major obstacle to doing business. As Europe searches for ways to boost economic growth and frets about its competitiveness, the European Union (EU) needs to ensure its regulations encourage better productivity and more innovation. Under its last two presidents, the European Commission has become a more political body.

That meant the EU lost one of its strengths: having a technocratic law-making body focused on designing laws based on evidence and good practice, and which was less beholden to short-term politics than the European Parliament and European Council. If, as expected, Ursula von der Leyen won a second term as Commission president, as part of her promise to focus on ‘competitiveness’, she should rebalance the Commission’s more political stance.

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