To protect workers, the ETUC wants good regulation which is simple to apply and enforce. Better regulation should focus on the quality of legislation and how far it achieves its aim.

The ETUC believes the Better Regulation initiative is a deregulatory agenda setting out to dismantle the European social acquis. The ETUC rejects the pejorative description of regulation as a burden, because it fails to acknowledge that the purpose of regulation is to benefit society in general. The right of the state to regulate must remain undisputed.

The new Better Regulation package puts the supposed needs of business above all others; turns minimum standards into maximum standards; puts a value on impact assessments that they do not have; introduces a longer, costlier and more bureaucratic procedure that will risk delaying social progress; makes it more difficult for elected EU institutions to change European Commission proposals and could undermine the principle that EU law applies equally to all. In short, it adds red tape, slows down progressive change and undermines European democracy.