ElectronicjournalofcomparatiVeLa,vol.9.1(january2005),<http://www.ejcl.org brought the European Commission to speaking of a new legislative culture,. 4 This culture is very much inspired by the notions of flexibility and differentiation The concept of flexibility was introduced into the EC Treaty and the EU Treaty in the form of provisions enabling closer cooperation between only a number of Member States. This means that not all the member States have to agree in order to move forward in respect of a certain matter. 5 More interesting for our purposes, however, is that there is an ambition to arrive at flexibility and differentiation not only from a substantive point of view, but also from an institutional or instrumental one, i.e. when it comes to the modes or instruments by which European integration is to be given shape. More generally, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe now states in its Article I-8 that the motto of the Union is"United in diversity. When we look more closely at the purpose of European legislation, it also becomes very clear that uniformity is not always aimed at and that the aim is rather to establish harmonisation or alignment of national law and policy as far as necessary(in particular with a view to realising the internal market ) Increasingly, it now appears that such bind ing harmonisation legislation may not even be considered necessary, but only-non binding -coord ination of national policies The pillars of this new legislative policy are also firmly rooted in the principles of subsid arity and proportionality, laid down in Article 5 EC. The Edinburgh European Council Conclusions, adopted in 1992, demonstrate this, as will be further explained in subsection 2.3 2.2 The first pillar: Do less in order to do bette When we look more closely at the way in which the first foundation of the Unions legislative policy has developed, it becomes clear that simplification and deregulation are the key words for putting the device do less in order to do better into practice. 16 This was underlined already in the Molitor Report, 7 according to which simplification must be taken to mean".. that it is essential to ensure that regulation imposes the least constraint on competitiveness and employment whilst maximizing the benefits of direct government intervention. Deregulation is taken to mean .. in some instances, an unavoidable extension of simplification will be the reduction or removal of government regulations, where such regulations are no longer necessary, or where their objectives can be achieved more effectively through alternative mechanisms. There are thus in fact two sides to this first pillar a drafting aspect and a policy aspect See the Report on Implementation of the Commission's work programme for 1996, European Commission, Brussels, 16 October 1996, p 10 See Article 1 l EC and Title vil of the EU Treaty. The EC Treaty also conta ins direct applications of this concept, in particular concerning the visa and asylum policy and the emu provisions, which allow forno- participation or later participation of some Mem ber States See the Commission opinion Reinforcing political union and preparing for enlargement, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1996, p. 13. See also the Council Resolution of 8 July 1996 on legislative and administrative simplification in the field of the internal market, OJ 1996, C 224/5 COM(95)288Electronic Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 9.1 (January 2005), <http://www.ejcl.org/> 5 brought the European Commission to speaking of a ‘new legislative culture’.14 This culture is very much inspired by the notions of flexibility and differentiation. The concept of flexibility was introduced into the EC Treaty and the EU Treaty in the form of provisions enabling closer cooperation between only a number of Member States. This means that not all the Member States have to agree in order to move forward in respect of a certain matter.15 More interesting for our purposes, however, is that there is an ambition to arrive at flexibility and differentiation not only from a substantive point of view, but also from an institutional or instrumental one, i.e. when it comes to the modes or instruments by which European integration is to be given shape. More generally, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe now states in its Article I-8 that the motto of the Union is ‘United in diversity’. When we look more closely at the purpose of European legislation, it also becomes very clear that uniformity is not always aimed at and that the aim is rather to establish harmonisation or alignment of national law and policy as far as necessary (in particular with a view to realising the internal market). Increasingly, it now appears that such binding harmonisation legislation may not even be considered necessary, but only - non￾binding - coordination of national policies. The pillars of this new legislative policy are also firmly rooted in the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, laid down in Article 5 EC. The Edinburgh European Council Conclusions, adopted in 1992, demonstrate this, as will be further explained in subsection 2.3. 2.2 The first pillar: ‘Do less in order to do better’ When we look more closely at the way in which the first foundation of the Union’s legislative policy has developed, it becomes clear that simplification and deregulation are the key words for putting the device ‘do less in order to do better’ into practice.16 This was underlined already in the Molitor Report,17 according to which simplification must be taken to mean ‘. . . that it is essential to ensure that regulation imposes the least constraint on competitiveness and employment whilst maximizing the benefits of direct government intervention’. Deregulation is taken to mean ‘. . . in some instances, an unavoidable extension of simplification will be the reduction or removal of government regulations, where such regulations are no longer necessary, or where their objectives can be achieved more effectively through alternative mechanisms’. There are thus in fact two sides to this first pillar: a drafting aspect and a policy aspect. 14 See the Report on Implementation of the Commission’s work programme for 1996, European Commission, Brussels, 16 October 1996, p. 10. 15 See Article 11 EC and Title VII of the EU Treaty. The EC Treaty also contains direct applications of this concept, in particular concerning the visa and asylum policy and the EMU provision s, which allow for non￾participation or later participation of some Member States. 16 See the Commission opinion ‘Reinforcing political union and preparing for enlargement’, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1996, p. 13. See also the Council Resolution of 8 July 1996 on legislative and administrative simplification in the field of the internal market, OJ 1996, C 224/5. 17 COM(95) 288