Is it feasible to deregulate whilst also acting on the climate crisis? Not really, is the conclusion of this major report (NEF/EEB).
I was lead author, in partnership with the European Environmental Bureau. It was the culmination of a 3-year research and mobilisation project to build opposition in Brussels, France and Germany to national and European programmes of environmental deregulation.
The purpose of European regulation has been gradually reoriented away from principled and precautionary protection towards reducing regulatory burdens as an end in itself. There is a deep conflict between cutting regulations as a point of principle, and delivering a new Europe fit for the challenges of the 21st century.