UK and 18 other EU countries call for business red-tape reduction

Eighteen member states have joined UK Chancellor George Osborne and Business Secretary Sajid Javid in calling on the EU to slash burdens on business, demonstrating a clear commitment from across Europe to the UK’s competitiveness agenda.

The UK ministers, alongside finance ministers and business secretaries of the other member states, who between them represent over three-quarters of EU citizens and over 80% of EU GDP, have written to European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans calling for the Commission to adopt clear targets for reducing the overall burden of EU regulation on business, writing:

“Our regulatory system needs to be fit for the 21st century. This means better and simpler regulation. Unnecessary burdens in EU legislation must be removed.”

The letter reinforces the prime minister’s call earlier this month for such a target in his letter to Donald Tusk on the UK’s renegotiation and his speech which urged the EU to go further in adding to our competitiveness, rather than detracting from it.

The letter welcomes Timmermans’ leadership and the more strategic approach taken by the Commission towards cutting business red tape, demonstrated by the recently-published 2016 Work Programme’s focus on competitiveness, going on to state that:

“We must build on the momentum for change in our regulatory culture and ensure that progress is never rolled back. It must nourish entrepreneurship and innovation, and provide for the future prosperity of all our citizens.”

New targets for reducing the burden of business regulation would build on this approach. The Commission has already introduced an administrative burden reduction target, showing that such mechanisms are workable and effective. The introduction of business burden reduction targets would be a major step forward in the EU’s approach to regulation.

The letter has been signed by Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

EU Business Ministers will discuss the letter with Vice President Timmermans during Monday’s (30 November 2015) Competitiveness Council in Brussels.

THE LETTER:

26 November 2015

Dear First Vice-President Timmermans,

As you know, the European economy is at a pivotal moment. In many countries economic recovery is on the way. But it is not secured for the long term. The challenge of global competition is intense. We must rise to this and deliver new sources of growth and productivity, unleashing the potential of all businesses from the smallest start-ups to the biggest multinationals.

This requires real change. Our regulatory system needs to be fit for the 21st century. This means better and simpler regulation. Unnecessary burdens in EU legislation must be removed while always taking into account proper protection of consumers, health, the environment, employees and financial market stability and respecting existing protection standards.

We welcome your leadership and the more strategic approach already taken by this Commission in pursuit of this objective. We welcome the streamlined 2016 Commission Work Programme and its focus on competitiveness. We also welcome the Commission’s commitment to the ‘Think Small First’ principle, and the resultant improvements already delivered, and hope we can use the ongoing negotiations on the Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Regulation to obtain equally strong commitments from the Council and European Parliament. However, we feel this could be further strengthened to ensure that this commitment translates into action.

We support your commitment to better regulation. Like you, we recognize the need to address the quality of EU legislation as well as to reduce its overall regulatory burden, without undermining its policy goals. This must include both the existing acquis and new proposals in order to ensure that EU regulation is transparent, simple and is achieved at minimum cost, while fostering competitiveness, growth and jobs.

We must build on the momentum for change in our regulatory culture and ensure that progress is never rolled back. It must nourish entrepreneurship and innovation, and provide for the future prosperity of all our citizens.

You have demonstrated great ambition in the reforms you have already introduced and in your better regulation package of May 2015. But one particular – and essential – reform is still missing: we now need to establish targets for reducing the burden of regulation in particularly burdensome areas, in line with the conclusions of the Competitiveness and European Councils.

At the same time we recognise that all institutions have a responsibility to reduce the burden of regulation on businesses, such as by supporting the effective implementation of reduction targets once agreed and introduced. Many member states have successfully introduced burden-reduction targets in their national better regulation efforts which can inspire targets at a European level.

The introduction of such burden reduction targets would mark a major step forward in our approach to smarter regulation. This would of course be fully in accordance with the principles of the single market. The effects would be clearly experienced by our businesses and economies and would impact on the way the EU is perceived by our citizens. The Union must concentrate its action on areas where it makes a real difference; it should refrain from taking action when member states can better achieve the same objectives.

Given the leadership you have already shown on this agenda, and in the spirit of a joint commitment on better regulation we look forward to a discussion with you on these matters at the Competitiveness Council on 30 November.

Dr Reinhold Mitterlehner, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy

Austria

Vladislav Goranov, Minister for Finance

Bojidar Lukarski, Minister for Economy

Bulgaria

Ivan Vrdoljak, Minister of the Economy

Republic of Croatia

Constantinos Petrides, Deputy Minister to the President

Cyprus

Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade

Czech Republic

Troels Lund Poulsen, Minister for Business and Growth

Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Minister of Finance

Denmark

Alexander Stubb, Minister of Finance

Jari Lindström, Minister of Justice and Employment

Finland

Emmanuel Macron, Minister for the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs

France

Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy

Germany

Mihály Varga, Minister for National Economy

Hungary

Dara Murphy, Minister of State at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs

Ireland

Maria Anna Madia, Minister of Simplification and Public Administration Federica Guidi, Minister of Economic Development

Sandro Gozi, State Secretary in charge of European Affairs

Italy

Evaldas Gustas, Minister of Economy

Rimantas Šadžius, Minister of Finance

Republic of Lithuania

Christian Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business

Professor Edward Scicluna, Minister for Finance

Malta

Vazil Hudák, Minister of Economy

Slovak Republic

Boris Koprivnikar, Minister of Public Administration

Slovenia

Luis de Guindos, Minister for Economic Affairs and Competitiveness

Spain

Mikael Damberg, Minister for Enterprise and Innovation

Sweden

Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer

United Kingdom

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