Better lawmaking essential for growth and competitiveness

Legal Affairs MEPs today (21 January) urged the European Commission to increase competitiveness and reduce EU regulatory burden in two prominent reports drafted by British MEP Dr Sajjad Karim. The vote in the Legal Affairs Committee successfully endorsed Dr Karim’s ‘Better Lawmaking’ and ‘Audit Reform’ reports and leads the way for positive reform of the EU.

“Today’s vote is a step forward in getting SME’s back into business. We need SME’s to focus on growing their business and not be beset by burdensome EU red tape. The current economic climate is tough and therefore it is essential that we reform the EU to create conditions to allow businesses to flourish; which in turn will create jobs and boost economic growth“, said rapporteur Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK). The ‘Better Lawmaking’ own-initiative report, approved by 14 votes in favour, 8 against and 0 abstentions, stresses that reform of legislation and legislative practices is “an essential tool in delivering growth and competitiveness in Europe”.

Reducing regulatory burden

Legal Affairs MEPs urge the European Commission to rapidly implement the commitments it sets in its recent Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT) communication in order to reduce regulatory burden and to make EU-laws clearer and easier to understand. EU-legislation should be “simple, effective and efficient, provide a clear added value, be easy to understand and accessible in all the official languages of the EU member states” says the resolution.

MEPs also demand the Commission to make further concrete proposals in order to reduce the overall regulatory burden. They propose that for example exemptions or lighter rules for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises could be introduced where appropriate. However, the resolution stresses that measures proposed under Better Lawmaking “must not undermine environmental, consumer and worker protections”

More attention to impact assessment

MEPs welcome Commission’s willingness to take account all stages of EU-legislation from initiation and impact assessment to implementation and evaluation. In addition, MEPs encourage improvement of ex-ante evaluation of new legislation.

Role of national parliaments

The resolution calls for further discussion on the role of national parliaments in evaluation of European issues. It stresses that many practical improvements, such as guidelines on criteria for reasoned opinions, could be made already at this point.

Share this article: