The European Union is faced with the challenge of starting afresh and regaining the trust of many Europeans in the ideals and goals of European integration. Central to this is achieving better regulation and improving the implementation of EU legislation.Faced with declining popular enthusiasm for the EU and rising euroscepticism, the Juncker Commission has decided to facilitate economic recovery by cutting ‘red tape’, by improving policy formulation and impact assessment processes, by reasserting its ownership of the legislative initiative and withdrawing stalled and inopportune proposals, by ensuring forthcoming legislation fully respects subsidiarity and proportionality, and by promoting a new partnership with national parliaments. The First Vice-President of the European Commission coordinates these tasks while concomitantly assuming horizontal responsibility for sustainable development in Europe and the wider world, which demands balancing environmental, social and economic aspects.A first test of how this balance is struck by the Commission and whether this meets the agreement of other EU institutions and Member States, lies in the much debated Commission’s 2015 Work Programme. While the Commission has already worked on better regulation extensively, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut has itself kept abreast of these developments and convened a high-profile conference on this topic back in 1997, the results of which were presented in the book Improving the Quality of Legislation in Europe (The Hague, 1998). Close to two decades later, the issues of better regulation remain pertinent. Will the EU manage to re-invent itself and demonstrate the benefits of European integration for business and citizens?The ‘50 Years of Asser’ EU Law Symposium brings policy makers from Union institutions and Member States together with academic scholars, practitioners and others for a lively discussion of the way forward in enhancing EU legislation in ways that are efficient, smart and sustainable.