EPICENTER’s new EU Regulatory Quality Index (EU-RQI) for 2022–2024 gives EU legislative quality a mediocre 66.9/100. The study criticises overly complex language, sentences twice longer than recommended, inconsistent impact assessments that often ignore economic effects, and poor transposition rates (less than half of directives on time). Bulgaria performs worst, with 16 overdue directives (EU average: 8), 16-month delays and 31 pending infringement cases, highlighting how regulatory complexity hits competitiveness and raises administrative costs across the Union.