Tough competition: why cutting regulation is so hard for the EU

In the third of his posts covering the UK’s renegotiation strategies, Frank Vibert argues that David Cameron is pushing at an open door in wanting a more internationally competitive European Union. But though the EU might be able to reach agreement on its goals in this area, institutional tendencies to over-regulate – and business demands for legal certainty in a large market – mean that change will still be difficult to realise.