The European Commission asked EU leaders on October 12 to sign a “pact against gold-plating,” aiming to curb national governments from adding extra requirements to EU law. Central European nations, particularly Poland, have strong incentives to join such an agreement. A Polish government report identified 100 instances of over-regulation in its implementation of EU directives, placing Poland at the bottom of the Fraser Institute’s economic freedom rankings among EU members. Meanwhile, Georgia and Armenia, former Soviet republics, rank higher economically than most post-communist EU states, raising questions about their potential future standing if they ever join the Union.
Zdeněk Kühn, a Czech jurist, notes that communist-era courts relied heavily on “socialist textual positivism,” a legacy that persisted past 1989. After the fall of communism, Central and Eastern European countries rewrote their laws twice: first to build market economies, then again before EU accession in 2004, when they had to absorb tens of thousands of pages of EU legislation. This process taught administrations to treat directives as exams, often resulting in overly detailed national implementations.
Von der Leyen’s Pact Against Gold-Plating
Ursula von der Leyen proposed the pact in her September 16 State of the Union address, urging member states to “step up” and simplify EU law transposition. Her letter to leaders specified that rules agreed at the European level should not grow more complex during national implementation. Signatories would publicly justify any additional requirements, while the European Semester’s review mechanism would target obstructive national rules. The October 15-16 summit was intended to launch negotiations, though the final conclusions did not mention the pact explicitly.
Gold-plating is not confined to post-communist states. In 2024, Germany’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry submitted 20 examples, including stricter data-protection rules and packaging law declarations. Poland’s efforts to address this began with Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s deregulation initiative, SprawdzaMY, launched in February 2025. A report by DZP law firm listed 100 instances of Polish legislation exceeding EU requirements in sectors like banking, telecoms, and transport. The authors urged removing unjustified additions and identifying new ones before laws are enacted.
One notable case involved the EU’s DAC6 directive, which mandates reporting of aggressive cross-border tax schemes. Poland implemented its rules a year and a half early in 2019 and extended them to domestic arrangements, imposing penalties up to tens of millions of złoty. These domestic requirements expired on October 1 under a June amendment, but Poland still lags in other areas. It had 21 overdue directives by November 2025, tying it with others for both late and incorrect transposition.
Despite these challenges, Poland’s legislative output in 2025 declined by 12 percent to 12,400 pages, the lowest since 1999. Eleven laws based on SprawdzaMY proposals were enacted by year-end. The Fraser Institute’s 2024 Economic Freedom of the World report highlights stark disparities: Estonia ranks 15th globally, while Poland sits at 65th among EU members. Regulation scores further emphasize the gap—Estonia 11th, Germany 23rd, and Poland 58th. Slovakia, Romania, and Croatia trail even further behind.
Economic Freedom in Post-Communist States
Georgia ranks 26th globally and 19th in regulation, ahead of Germany, while Armenia sits 38th overall but 101st in regulation. Both countries began aligning with EU law through association agreements but have maintained strong economic freedom. Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, also former Soviet republics, lead the rankings. Mart Laar, Estonia’s post-Soviet prime minister, credited radical reforms inspired by Milton Friedman’s ideas.
Armenia’s narrower EU agreement lacks a free trade area, and its Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced plans to seek membership. Tallinn and Warsaw both joined the EU in 2004 but now rank differently in economic freedom.
Poland’s Struggles with EU Directives
Poland faces delays in implementing EU directives, with 21 overdue as of November 2025. It ranks among nine member states struggling with timely and accurate transposition. Armenia, despite its EU agreement since 2021, lacks a free trade area and remains in the Eurasian Economic Union, though it plans to apply for EU membership.
For Georgia and Armenia, EU membership remains distant, but Brussels will issue directives regardless, leaving domestic decisions on implementation to local authorities.
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