Charting the course to better EU law-making: optimisation of EU Treaties through inter-institutional cooperation with the European Committee of the Regions
Research project on better regulation tools and active subsidiarity to support the policy priorities of the European Committee of the Regions.
The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) (together with Milieu Consulting srl) has been commissioned by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) to undertake a project that gathers and analyses data on the impact and quality of better regulation tools, as well as exploring arguments for and approaches to a stronger consideration of the territorial dimension in EU law-making in particular through the strengthening of active subsidiarity.
The study supports the CoR's policy priority of bringing Europe closer to its people, as well as one of the key activities on better regulation and active subsidiarity of the Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX), which is responsible for coordinating the CoR's work on constitutional and institutional issues. It builds on suggestions made at the Conference on the Future of Europe that the role of the CoR and local and regional authorities in EU policymaking should be reinforced to take into account the experience of the subnational level with the implementation of EU law, and to recognise the concepts of active subsidiarity and multi-level governance as core elements of European democracy.
The research is based primarily on desk-research including legal analysis, and further supplemented by a stakeholder consultation, conducted by the CoR, including European Parliament and European Commission officers, CoR Better Regulation and Active Subsidiarity Steering Group (BRASS-G) members, academics, think-tank representatives, and representatives of EU institutions.
All relevant research findings are included in a two-part report. By taking stock and evaluating what has been done so far, the report also provides recommendations for changes moving forward. As the better regulation agenda concerns several CoR Commissions, the findings will inform the wider work of the CoR and its Commissions concerning better regulation and active subsidiarity.
