Better Regulation and the pursuit of good governance

Abstract

Most governments of high-income countries, including the executive of the European Union, have a ‘better regulation’ programme of some form, and have seen these grow in scope and complexity in recent years. In the European Commission, for instance, the introduction in 2021 of a streamlined call for evidence consultation process, a new one-in-one-out approach to regulatory burden, and the integration of various guiding principles (do no significant harm, digital by default, the SME test), have markedly expanded the objectives that the Better Regulation agenda is to serve. These tools of ‘good governance’ are public policy instruments in and of themselves – as such, they create a need for resources, like data and expertise, they present challenges in terms of their coordination, and their norms shape the perceptions of their stakeholders. This panel explores the implications of Better Regulation and its associated instruments, charting the contemporary good governance landscape in the EU and its practical impact on policy processes. The first paper identifies a proliferation of good governance structures in the EU, comparing the Better Regulation agenda, the Budget Focused on Results (BFOR) framework, and the Budget Mainstreaming approach. Responding to criticism from the European Court of Auditors and the OECD about the incoherence of these structures, Nico Groenendijk (Inland University, Norway) reflects on whether they, collectively, respond to the need for ex ante and ex post evaluation. The second paper turns to one of the inevitable side-effects of this proliferating good governance ecosystem: the increasing reliance on external contractors and consultants. Focusing on the conduct of public consultations, Elissaveta Radulova and Andreea Nastase (Maastricht University, Netherlands) explore the criteria on which consultants are selected, the nature and the scope of the outsourced tasks, and the expectations surrounding consultants’ work and output, to question how their use is justified by the Commission. A third intervention turns to a core component of Better Regulation: access to good quality administrative data. Fabio Berton and Paolo Paruolo (European Commission Joint Research Centre) present their work on administrative data systems, looking at how data can be accessed, what experiences with its provision can be shared between countries, and how better administrative data could strengthen regulatory process across a range of policy sectors. A final paper addresses the contestation that has historically faced Better Regulation in the EU. Motivated by the opposition to Better Regulation from civil society groups, Eleanor Brooks (University of Edinburgh, UK) explores the narratives of Better Regulation and argues that their emphasis on burden, simplification and economic growth – which prevail despite recent efforts to reframe the agenda – help to explain continued opposition.

Title	Details
Better Regulation, a Budget Focused on Results and Budget Mainstreaming: towards more aligned or more demarcated processes?	View Paper Details
Outsourcing to External Contractors by the European Commission – the Janus Face of EU’s Better Regulation Agenda?	View Paper Details
The public value of learning using administrative data	View Paper Details
Burden reduction, deregulation, simplification? Unpacking the narratives of Better Regulation	View Paper Details