Better Governance and Judicial Review

Governance is supposed to be different from government in many respects, including because of a certain degree of informality and softer touch it entails (see for example the White paper on Governance which cautioned against vesting enforceable rights of participation). The EU is however still bound by the rule of law and effective judicial review is a most fundamental right. For all its softness and effectiveness, governance cannot escape (judicial?) scrutiny forever.

Following from this assumption, two parallel issues deserve to be investigated: if, how and to what extent a) participation rules and b) better regulation provisions such as those concerning regulatory impact assessment do – or should play a role in annulment proceedings brought under Art. 263 TFEU. This will require revisiting some core aspects of EU administrative law such as the review of discretion, compliance with the duty to give reasons, and the justiciability of the proportionality principle.