Whither better regulation for the Lisbon agenda?

The initiatives for regulatory reform known as 'better regulation' have become a priority in the recently reformulated 'growth and jobs' Lisbon agenda of the European Union. But what is better regulation and what can it deliver? In this article, better regulation is identified as a new type of meta-regulation, with its structural and discursive properties. Better regulation discourse has enabled policy-makers to address different objectives in their shifting regulatory reform agendas. The better regulation pendulum has swung between regulatory quantity (or deregulation) and quality across time and space. In terms of structural properties, there is diversity across Europe in terms of actors, contents, and processes, although an embryonic open method of co-ordination is emerging at the EU level. The Barroso Commission and a number of member states have redefined discourse and structure of better regulation to adapt it to the 'growth and jobs' priorities of Lisbon. This redefinition, however, has narrowed the scope, the range of stakeholders, and the ambitions in terms of governance. Diversity, task expansion and better regulation rhetoric make the relationship between this type of meta-regulation, the Lisbon agenda, and, looking at the long-term impact, the dynamics of the regulatory state problematic.