What can the better regulation commissioner do for the EU?

Abstract

The creation and prominence given to the new post of First Vice-President in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights are among the most interesting of several novelties contained in the proposed Juncker Commission. It is also welcome and overdue. After all, better regulation has been underpinning the Commission's core business, namely, EU regulation, for over a decade. Better regulation, together with free movement, generate the economic value-added that we all expect from the Union. The centrality of this function is fully justified if the EU is serious about contributing to economic and societal welfare via its critical means: the internal market and the related common policies (which again consist mainly of…EU regulation).