Better regulation

Priority question for written answer P-004346/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Tiemo Wölken (S&D)

The Commission is increasingly failing to comply with its obligations under the Better Regulation Guidelines (2021) and the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making (IIA-BLM, 2016), which require that all major legislative initiatives likely to have significant impacts be accompanied by an impact assessment (IA).

According to data from the European Parliamentary Research Service, since the beginning of the current Commission mandate on 1 December 2024, 80 ordinary legislative procedure proposals have been submitted - of which 18 were accompanied by an IA (covered by 12 IAs in total). 62 lacked an IA, though 25 of these had or will have staff working documents (SWD) as analytical substitutes. There were 10 proposals without IAs related to the multiannual financial framework.

The growing reliance on SWDs instead of IAs marks a significant departure from the IIA-BLM's 'general rule' that initiatives in the Commission Work Programme should be supported by an IA. This practice severely undermines transparency, accountability and evidence-based policymaking, weakening trust in the EU legislative process.

• 1.How does the Commission justify presenting legislative proposals without conducting the required IAs under the Better Regulation Guidelines and IIA-BLM?
• 2.How does the Commission ensure transparency and accountability when substituting full IAs with SWDs or analytical reports?
• 3.What concrete measures will the Commission take to restore systematic compliance with point 13 of the 2016 IIA-BLM and to guarantee that future legislative initiatives are accompanied by proper IAs?

Submitted: 5.11.2025