Towards a European regulatory state

Abstract

This article explains why regulation has come to the fore as an instrument in contemporary policy-making in many European states, as well as within the European Union (EU). On the basis of case study material, it considers whether some of the traditional problems associated with regulation, specifically those of regulatory capture and of implementation gaps, have arisen in the case of EU regulation. Drawing on the experience of the Eftan states and the central and east European countries, the article also examines a new challenge associated with the EU itself, that of regulatory alignment, the process by which prospective member states adapt to both the form and the content of European rule-making.