Zanin calls for strengthening of RegHubs network to improve people's wellbeing and drive recovery forward
"Better regulation must incorporate multi-level governance: the involvement of all authorities with legislative power, responsible for implementing EU rules. This is a prerequisite for high quality legislation." Piero Mauro Zanin, the CoR Rapporteur for Better Regulation made these remarks when presenting his opinion at a hybrid CIVEX meeting.
Zanin who is President of the Parliament of the Autonomous Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia – a Region with legislative powers - added that recovery and growth is too often undermined by administrative and regulatory burdens. In this regard he said "LRAs and the CoR can actively contribute to a “Better regulation” system through simplification."
Zanin remarked that including strategic foresight into the policy-shaping process is fundamental. Commending the work done through the RegHubs network which monitors the implementation of EU policies on the ground and make sure the voice of hundreds of regional and local stakeholders is taken into account when these policies are evaluated, Zanin said "It is key to further strengthen the CoR’s RegHusb network. Its consultations create an environment for the exchange of good practices, making RegHub a better regulation instrument itself."
Zanin's opinion notes that – overall - democratically elected LRAs still have limited influence on the shaping of the EU legislation they are required to implement. The opinion stresses that both these authorities and the CoR, their institutional representative at EU level, must be given a bigger role in the European governance system. The opinion calls on the different levels of governance to join forces to make better laws, by taking a bottom-up approach, harmonising better regulation tools (many of which are used by the regions) to ensure that they are comparable, and sharing good practices and available data. It also calls on the Commission, the Member States and the Local and Regional Authorities to issue harmonised legislation able to remove obstacles and red tape which, by slowing down recovery, undermine people's wellbeing.
Next steps: Following today's discussion and adoption, the opinion is expected to be adopted in the plenary session taking place between 1-3 December 2021.