The Better Regulation agenda: Fit to foster trust in the EU’s governance of social policy issues?

To what extent can the regulatory management system be used to foster trust in the governance of social policy issues? Using the case of the EU’s Better Regulation agenda and the trust of policy stakeholders, this article examines the potential and limitations of regulatory management systems in creating trust in governance processes. It examines the positions of advocacy groups which voice collective concern that Better Regulation represents ‘deregulation in disguise’ (Corporate Europe Observatory, 2020). Next, the article develops a conceptualisation of trust in political institutions, and the relationship between trust and legitimacy. Trust in institutions is built on the norms that they embody; in this sense, regulatory management systems are ‘repositories of values’ and trust in them reflects our identification with these values and our belief that they will be upheld (Gilson, 2003). When we talk about trust in governance processes, we are therefore referring to a specific kind of trust, formed at a general level towards the values embodied in a system, and more commonly conceptualised as legitimacy (Smismans, 2022). On this basis, the article develops an analytical framework of input legitimacy (trust via representation and responsiveness), output legitimacy (trust via effective policies) and throughput legitimacy (trust via transparent, high quality governance processes) (Schmidt, 2020). Finally, the article applies this framework to the efforts of the European Commission to institutionalise a commitment to the values of participatory decision-making, evidence- based policy-making, and the reduction of burden for businesses and citizens, via instruments such as impact assessment, evaluation and stakeholder consultation (Brooks & Lauber, 2024; Lauber & Brooks, 2023). In so doing, it engages with the argument that regulatory management systems are not and cannot be designed to serve specific policy interests, and the limitations that this implies for their ability to foster trust among (all) policy stakeholders.