The ‘Better Regulation’ programme: expertise over politics?

The 'Better Regulation' programme which received very little media coverage, was presented by the European Commission on 19th May last in response to the second priority in Jean-Claude Juncker's programme which was "to make the Union more democratic". It intends to improve the efficiency of the European legislative process via greater transparency and the use of pertinent expertise. Hence a dialectic between democratic legitimacy and legitimacy through efficiency emerges here. This approach illustrates the degree to which the community's institution is torn between the will to open up the decision making process and its technocratic leanings, which result from its organisational nature and also from the institutional power games that are specific to the European Union. Moreover agreement regarding the proposal to revise the existing inter-institutional agreement, which dates back to 2003, before the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council, is hoped for before the end of 2015.

ESO: Background information: Better Regulation Agenda: Enhancing transparency and scrutiny for better EU law-making http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-better-regulation-agenda-enhancing-transparency-and-scrutiny-for-better-eu-law-making/

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