Investigating drivers of the EU rule stock
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2025-06-30
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en
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Abstract
Even though the amount of regulation in force in the EU is regularly scrutinised, no
detailed account of its relative size or development exists. This study maps both the
steps needed to compute such an account as well as presents the results on two policy
areas. Additionally, a first investigation of possible drivers of this development at the
EU level is presented. The stock of rules in force is operationalised as the number of
regulatory sentences which are in force, as extracted in a new dataset by Brandsma
et al. (forthcoming). Combined with data on how acts can alter the lifespan of the
content of previous acts (Fjelstul, 2019), this offers a novel perspective on the rule
stock in the EU which accounts for varying act sizes and lifespans. Computing the rule
stock shows that the rule stock in the EU for economic & monetary and energy policy
has risen continuously and expansion has increased significantly in more recent years.
Moreover, the analysis showed that theories which expect a self-evolving bureaucracy,
different decision-making structures or crises to influence the rule stock, hold merit
to explain different aspects of the development of the EU rule stock.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen