The Impact of Benefit-Cost Analysis on Policy Evaluation in the European Union
The study explores how Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) influences policy evaluation in the European Union, emphasizing the importance of expert involvement, quality laws enactment procedures, and the role of governments in decision-making. It highlights the significance of BCA in governmental decisions and the challenges in the legislative process, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
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THE INFLUENCE OF THE BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS ON POLICY EVALUATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 1. Kristina Gogic, mag.iur./LLM 2. Fourth European Conference of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 3. Milan, September 11-12, 2023
Through the rules, of course; laws, acts, and other by-laws Important: To make attention to the selection of the team of people inside the Governments Office for Legislation To secure adequate financial resources for the work of the Office (through the budget, mainly) To secure improving knowledge, constantly on the BCA methods through training, seminars, etc., which can, for sure, improve the quality of Laws
BCA BCA is a relatively simple and widely used technique for deciding whether to make a change POLITICAL DECISIONS BCA is very important in political, Governmental decisions Governments are policy creators, and Governments are usually formed of politicians who make decisions Governments have advisers in the different fields of their work, who are experts INFLUENCE How much do experts inside Governments influence the policymakers? Depends on the country Do politicians allow enough experts to influence policymaking?
Enactment of Laws process - Croatia The Government is proposing laws to the Parliament The Government is formed of the political parties which are in power The law which the Government proposes will be accepted in the Parliament because of the majority of the parties in power in it Does the Government propose laws in order that are in the best interest of the citizens of a country? What about the quality of the laws?
It is not an easy process, must pass procedures in the European Commission which proposes the regulations, and then must be enacted in the European Parliament after the regulations must be implemented in the national legislation of all EU Member States It is not a fast process because of its importance COVID-19 slowed that process more, as slowed all other processes Health must be in the first place so we had/have to accept the slowness
Croatian Government - Office for Legislation - Unit for the system and coordination of the Assessment of the Effects of Regulations - must have experts for BCA Experts for BCA through the BCA can predict a possible problem in the application of the Law and can avoid it, by proposing adequate and more useful measures which will be incorporated into the Law If the politicians don t listen to the advice of the BCA expert regarding this matter, the damage can t be avoided
Croatian leaders inside a Government, which means inside the Office for Legislation (OL) too, usually make the same mistake for many years: after entering a Law into force, during its application, problems show up, in some parts of it So, the Government is taking a kind of firefighting measures when the problem shows up But the fire extinguishing is not going fast and the damage can t be avoided what is important? - To predict a possible problem through the methods of the BCA in cases where that is possible, of course
The Law on the Reconstruction of Buildings Damaged by the Earthquake in the City of Zagreb, Krapina-Zagreb County, and Zagreb County, entered into force on September 17th, 2020 (Zagreb and its surroundings were affected by the earthquake on March 22nd, 2020) It was an emergency for the enactment, but it is an office (OL) with experience, and it cooperated/es with the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and State Property which is competent for the implementation of the Law, and with the Council of Experts established by the Law: so, all of them had to do a better job in this exceptionally important matter; unfortunately, they did not
The Law has been changed 3 times in 3 years; the first change in February 2021 might have a strong reason for a change, because another two earthquakes happened on December 28th-29th, 2020 when two other towns and surroundings including Zagreb were affected by the earthquakes But the next change was made on November 29th, 2021, after the problems in the application of some stipulations which affected the lives of citizens whose buildings were damaged
The Law changes too often! Finally (is it the final version?) the new Law was enacted in February 2023?! Now the fourth minister is on duty and leads the Ministry that is in charge of the application of this law (the previous three had to resign because of the slow and bad application of the Law, which means the slow reconstruction of damaged property/buildings) The research regarding the same matter which was made during 2017- 2019, has been presented at the First European Conference of the SBCA, but regarding other Laws: Penal Procedure Law, Distraint Law, and Civil Procedure Law, and problems that showed up in the application of these Laws, for all parties in the process
What may the EU Governing bodies do? May give an exact recommendation to some of the Governments of the EU Member States, where the mentioned problem showed up, to draw up more attention to the methods of Benefit-cost analysis in improving law-making - or even to consider that option! To use the methods of the BCA to improve laws, from the beginning of the process of the law-making
Next generation learning from the mistakes Important: - The mistakes which have been made in these laws will influence the lives of the citizens in this generation, and for sure in the next generation - So, all who are allowed to participate in the process, must be very careful in advising and bringing the proposed Acts, Laws, and other By-laws - It is a matter of responsibility, the personal responsibility of each of us, and a responsibility of the society
Facing a difficult time uncertainties A climate change already has been one of the biggest dangers for people around the world and still, it is COVID-19 spreads so fast and became another danger (it wasn t possible to predict it) A war in Ukraine next big danger: just to note that 20% of the sky is closed for flights because of the war So, responsibility, and carefulness in working on this job or any other which we are doing, in these times, have to be done with more patience; professionalism must be in the first place, much more than ever
Next Generation EU Recovery plan It is more than a recovery plan Make it: - Green - Digital - Healthy - Strong - Equal For the realization of the plan EU Budget 2021-2027 is very important and has been revised in June 2023 - is that the last revision? BCA is very important in planning the EU Budget
References European Union, NextGenerationEU < https://next-generation- eu.europa.eu/index_en> accessed 24 February 2023 European Commission, Strategy and Policy, EU Budget https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/eu-budget/long- term-eu-budget/2021-2027/whats-new_en#revision-of-the-eu-budget- 2021-2027 accessed 30 July 2023 Regulation (EU) 2021/1119/EC (2021) OJ L 243 p. 1-17 Zerbe R Jr, Dively D, Benefit-cost analysis in theory and practice (1994) HarperCollins College Publication Kristina Gogic https://kristinagogic.com/en/
Thank you for your attention! Questions? E-mail addresses: kristinagogic1@gmail.com gogic.kristina11@outlook.com kristina@kristinagogic.com Web site: www.kristinagogic.com
