• Home /
• News /
• 2015 /
• May /
• EU: "A huge power grab" by the Commission - Seeking to "regulate" EU legislators: "experts" Board will pronounce on any substantive changes made by the legislators to a Commission proposal (but who will "regulate" the Regulators?)

EU: "A huge power grab" by the Commission - Seeking to "regulate" EU legislators: "experts" Board will pronounce on any substantive changes made by the legislators to a Commission proposal (but who will "regulate" the Regulators?)

12 May 2015

See: Commission: COMMUNICATION: Proposal for an Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Regulation (pdf): Draft Agreement between the Commission, Council and the European Parliament:

"The European Parliament and the Council will carry out impact assessments prior to the adoption at any stage of the legislative process of any substantive amendment to the Commission proposal." [emphasis added]

and Commission proposal: COMMUNICATION: Better Regulation For Better Results - An EU Agenda (pdf)

"Carry out an impact assessment on any substantial amendments the Parliament or Council propose during the legislative process. Where the Parliament and the Council find an agreement significantly different from the initial Commission proposal, they should assess the likely impact and regulatory burden before any final decision." [emphasis added] .... "As announced in December 20146, a new and reinforced Regulatory Scrutiny Board will take the place of the existing [Impact] Board."

This Regulatory Board (replacing the Impact Assessment Board) would have six fullttime Members and three hired from outside EU institutions.

In simple terms the EU "Legislature" - the Council and the Parliament" - could not make any substantive amendments to a new measure without the Regulatory Board of "experts" pronouncing on how the original Commission proposal would be changed by the legislators.

As if to sweeten the move "consultations" are to take place at several stages before the Commission agrees a Proposal and sends it to the legislators and the secretness of "trilogues" would be ended (in most cases) - the latter should happen regardless of these ideas (see: Abolish 1st [and 2nd] reading secret deals - bring back democracy warts and all (pdf).

Background: Commission wants to vet changes to draft EU law (euractiv, link): "EXCLUSIVE / The European Commission will call on MEPs and national governments to commit to its drive for better regulation, and submit substantial changes to bills to scrutiny by experts, according to a leaked draft of its strategy to cut red tape."