For any project-related inquiries, please write an e-mail to hello@euplex.org
The complexity of its laws and regulations has repeatedly been identified as one of the key challenges facing the European Union (EU). Both among EU scholars and practitioners, it is well recognized that the complexity of EU law not only implies enormous managerial challenges for those in power and their bureaucracies, but also involves significant cognitive burdens on the public. Yet, how can we distinguish rather simple from more complex policy content empirically? How can we explain variance of policy complexity across issue areas and time? And how does this complexity matter for political processes in the EU and the Member States?
The Emmy Noether Research Group "EUPLEX - Coping with Policy Complexity in the European Union", led by Dr. Steffen Hurka at LMU Munich, addresses these important questions. On this website, you can find information about the project, the research team, current publications and data. Feel free to contact us at hello@euplex.org for any further questions or ideas for cooperation.
"We must be inventors of simplicity which must lead to a collective examination of conscience, firstly within the Commission, for whom the pen must be lighter and the texts plainer (...); the quest for compromise at Council level results in texts which are too complicated, even incomprehensible."
EUPLEX receives funding from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) through the Emmy Noether program. Details can be found on the DFG Gepris website.