Explaining regulatory change in the European Union: The role of the financial crisis in ratcheting up of risk regulation

The European Union was hit by the financial crisis of 2008. The impact of this crisis, however, and the extent to which this has led to strengthening environmental, health and safety risk regulation in the EU remain open to debate. This article advances the discussion of the “ratcheting-up” hypothesis by adding a new explanatory factor, namely the financial crisis, and shows what role it played in two cases of risk regulation: Nanotechnology and Alien Invasive Species. It is argued that the crisis, acting as an external economic pressure for the competitiveness and growth of the single market, advanced the economic rationale for strengthening environmental, health and safety standards with implications for effective risk governance, namely regulatory convergence across its (then) 28 member states.