European Trade Union Committee for Education

In May 2015, ETUCE had joined forces with more than 50 civil society organisations  and launched the  'Better Regulation Watchdog' which is a network to protect citizens', workers' and consumers' rights.

A few days ago, the Better Regulation Watchdog Network took action and sent an open letter to Members of the European Parliament. The letter was sent in reaction to the European Commission's recent proposal for an Inter-Institutional Agreement and the Commission communication on Better Regulation for Better Results. The network of organisations comprising a wide range of public interest groups including consumer, environmental, development, financial, social, and public health organisations and trade unions, and representing tens of millions of European citizens is concerned that the 'Better Regulation' agenda aims to weaken or undermine essential regulations and subordinate the public good to corporate interests.

The Better Regulation Watchdog Network strongly supports genuine Better Regulation while believing that the focus of EU decision-making should be on improving regulation. Better Regulation should be Better for All. In their letter, the members of the Better Regulation Watchdog Network share their first assessment of the Commission's proposal for a new inter-institutional agreement (IIA) ahead of negotiations between the three institutions, including the opinion that the proposal would considerably hamper the ability of the European Parliament to use its full post-Lisbon powers as a co-legislator.

In the letter, the Better Regulation Watchdog Network urges the European Parliament to address five urgent issues:

• The Better Regulation initiative should not threaten the democratic powers of the European Parliament and the Council
• The Commission should not propose outright blanket exemptions of EU legislation
• Impact assessments should be used to improve, not threaten legitimate regulation
• Transparency should not lead to even more corporate influence on law-making
• Better Regulation should not lead to regulatory convergence to the bottom

Please, read the open letter entirely at: http://www.betterregwatch.eu/Open_Letter_to_EP_on_IIA.pdf

The founding statement of the Better Regulation Watchdog and the full list of members can be found here: http://www.csee-etuce.org/images/BackgroundDocs/BRWN_Founding_Statement_and_Members.pdf