EU states told they must learn to simplify rules

EU member states were warned they must stop gold-plating EU laws and take a greater interest in simplifying the rules, by the European Commission’s top official, Catherine Day.

She was responding to comments from IBEC, the Irish business association that hosted a breakfast briefing on the issue in Brussels.

Ms Day also warned that business has to speak out in favour of the Commission’s agenda to create jobs and growth, but they also need to work to bring the public with them.

She underlined a new attitude in the Commission that took over last month under the presidency of Jean Claude Juncker to move away from a ‘one size fits all’ kind of laws, and instead drive a general principle, allowing for the differences between member states.

“There is no move away from having open borders but we can have something that is not so rigid and that recognises the diversity of 28 different countries, at different stages of developing. It is increasingly difficult to have one size fits all, and increasingly people are saying this does not suit us”, she said.

The Commission will drive the overall principle of what needs to be achieved, especially in the longer run, but will have to question each time whether an action is justified and take into account each country’s specificities. “We should decide topic by topic and case by case”, she said.

But people have to be helped to understand what is being done, such as when trying to provide more sustainable energy planning should not take so long and lawmakers have to understand why people for instance are afraid of pylons, said Ms Day.

The European Parliament and the Council representing member states also have to do assess the impact of the changes they propose to rules put forward by the Commission, as the Commission does, and they have to be serious about this, she said.

The accumulative impact of laws such as the gold plating member states engage in, adding more rules to EU law when they are transposing it into EU legislation, was another issue and one the Commission was working to understand.

“We need member states to take to heart some of the messages they pass to us”, she said.

IBEC chief executive Danny McCoy told the briefing that the Commission has a crucial role to play in getting the faltering European recovery back on track.

“An EU that understands and responds to the needs of business is more important than ever. The new Commission must provide leadership and introduce real reform if we are to overcome the major economic challenges that still confront us,” he said.

Cutting red tape was crucial and the quality of European regulation must improve with Europe falling behind global competitors in the ease of doing business.