Achieving "Simplicity by design" in EU Better Regulation in times of disinformation

The European Commission has launched a Call for Evidence on adjustments to its Better Regulation framework, with a particular focus on urgency, consultation efficiency and “simplicity by design”.

OECD benchmarking identifies the EU’s strength in evidence-based and participatory rule-making, but consistently highlights ex post evaluation as the weakest element of regulatory governance.

Recently lawmaking processes moved away from science-based and thoroughly evaluated law making, especially so during the Omnibus procedures the, leading to the Ombudsperson criticizing of “maladministration and insufficient justification for claimed urgency” as well as “inadequate consultation” [Alemanno 2026]

BAUM e.V., Die Bürokratiemonster and Climate+Tech see the European Union as the region in which balanced democratic processes and evidence-based policy-making are becoming the major differentiator to other regions providing security and predictability to corporates, financial markets and society as a whole. 

Europe must ensure reliability of its regulation, that the ambitions behind its legislations are reached and that they are easily understood and simple to implement. This avoids chaos and mitigates a dangerous reduction of trust into its regulation.

This paper argues that “simplicity by design” can only reduce bureaucracy and increase competitiveness if it is operationalised through outcome-first lawmaking, balanced democratic participation, disciplined use of exemptions, and mandatory ex post evaluation.

We underline the increasing urgency in applying such science-based policy in a time in which concerns on “How malicious AI swarm can threaten democracy” [DT Schroeder et al] are arising.

Europe must ensure that its regulation is reliable, and that the ambitions behind it are met. This reduces complexity and mitigates a dangerous reduction of trust into its regulation.