economic policy
Habeck and Buschmann want to thin out the EU bureaucracy
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (l, Greens) and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) in the Bundestag. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The economics minister calls it “a real obstacle to investment”, his colleague in the Ministry of Justice speaks of “high mountains made of paper”. A national bureaucracy relief law is intended to remedy the situation.
Buschmann said it was important to reduce the “high mountains made of paper” to small hilly landscapes: “We’ll keep what makes Europe strong. What weakens us belongs in the shredder.”
“Fighting bureaucratic burn-out”
At the cabinet meeting in Meseberg, which begins today, the cornerstones of a national bureaucracy relief law are to be decided tomorrow. “The starting shot to combat the bureaucratic burnout has already been given at the national level,” said Buschmann. In a united Europe, however, national action is no longer enough. A large number of onerous regulations come from the EU. Together with Habeck, he is campaigning for the federal government to start a European relief initiative. “First of all, we want to win over our close partners from France.”
In an impulse paper available to dpa for the cabinet meeting in Meseberg, it says: “Our approach is not to impair the economy with disproportionate additional bureaucratic burdens. We are asking for support from both the European institutions and our European partners.” The two ministers welcome the fact that French President Emmanuel Macron has taken up the issue of unnecessary bureaucracy. “We would like to take this as an impulse and start a Franco-German initiative to reduce bureaucracy in the EU.”
Concern about competitiveness
The ministers call on the EU Commission to draw up an ambitious action plan for acceleration and relief measures that can be implemented in the short term. Business associations have long complained about too much bureaucracy. At the same time, there is growing concern that German companies could become less competitive internationally because of high energy prices in international comparison and a multi-billion dollar subsidy program in the USA.
Buschmann said that reducing bureaucracy would not only generate a growth spurt for the whole of Europe at no cost, but also increase the attractiveness of the business location in international competition.
“The ongoing transformation of the economy, the development and expansion of strategically relevant sectors such as microelectronics, renewable energies or an EU-wide hydrogen infrastructure can only succeed if unnecessary bureaucracy and burdens are eliminated,” says Habeck. “We need acceleration and relief without sacrificing the necessary protection standards.”
simplify procedures
In the paper, the two ministers propose a large number of concrete measures. Planning and approval procedures would have to become faster and simpler. The administrative burden in connection with the labor law posting of employees to other European countries should also be simplified.
When the General Data Protection Regulation is revised, Habeck and Buschmann want to work more towards legal certainty and effective enforcement, for example by making the provisions clearer. In addition, further adjustments should be examined in order to “effectively” relieve small and medium-sized companies of information, documentation and verification obligations without lowering the level of protection of the regulation. The two ministers also want to work towards simplifying trading in greenhouse gas emission certificates and making them more transparent.