The German liberal party, the FDP, is pushing to cut red tape at the EU level in its campaign for the European elections, rivalling the conservative CDU/CSU (EPP) which wants to move Europe “from the Green Deal to an Economic Deal”.
While the five years under Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU/EPP) have been dominated by the green agenda known as the European Green Deal, the next years should focus on relieving companies from unnecessary burdens, German liberals argue.
“Half of the bureaucracy that weighs heavily on the shoulders of our companies comes from the EU,” Reinhard Houben, speaker of the FDP for economic affairs, told Euractiv.
“A decisive reduction in bureaucracy must be a central concern of the next Commission,” he added.
The liberals, who want to kick off their EU campaign at a party convention later this month, hope to shift blame for the increase in red tape for companies to von der Leyen and her centre-right CDU party (EPP). This comes after the FDP lost many pro-business voters to the CDU, as it is seen as an ally of the two other, left-leaning parties in the German government.
The EPP, however, has also reacted to the common complaints from the business community, making cutting red tape one of its main priorities in a draft election manifesto seen by Euractiv.
Already last week, Alexander Dobrindt, parliamentary group leader of the CSU (EPP), the Bavarian sister party of CDU and home turf of EPP chief Manfred Weber, said that “instead of a ‘Green Deal’, we need an ‘Economic Deal’ in the coming years,” Table.Media reported.
“We know that the challenges of the future are not exclusively related to climate protection, but also very much to new issues of economic performance, prosperity and security,” Dobrindt told journalists after the CSU’s annual closed meeting, to which von der Leyen was invited.
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One idea floated by liberal FDP is the creation of an independent body at the EU level to check each new legislation for its impact on companies.
Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP/Renew) said last week that “around 57% of compliance costs [for German companies] do not stem from laws that we come up with here in Berlin, but stem from the implementation of European directives”.
While the number is repeatedly used by FDP politicians to shift blame to Brussels, the precise costs are not directly recorded by authorities, but only estimated based on available German data.
“The costs of bureaucracy at EU level have not yet been recorded systematically enough and are not monitored by effective review mechanisms,” a spokesperson of Buschmann told Euractiv.
As the obligations for companies triggered by new legislations “are changed and often increased through the legislative process in the Council and European Parliament”, there was a “lack of control of bureaucratic costs at EU level”, she added.
Indeed, while the Commission produces an impact assessment for each new legislation, which is also monitored by an internal “regulatory scrutiny board”, no such step is done for amendments proposed by the Parliament or member states.
While a similar idea was launched by CDU/CSU already last year, Houben said “the fact that the CDU/CSU has developed a similar demand makes me optimistic that the proposal can still be launched under the current Commission”.
“Von der Leyen’s party colleagues also have a responsibility here,” he added.
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German ‘gold plating’
Business representatives welcomed the new focus on EU bureaucracy, but also warned government-party FDP that putting a finger up at Brussels should not distract attention from cutting bureaucracy originating within Germany itself.
“It pays to take the appropriate time for an impact assessment during a legislative process: This makes it easier to check the effects, e.g. on businesses, and readjustments can then be made if necessary,” Freya Lemcke, chief lobbyist of German Business Chamber DIHK in Brussels, told Euractiv.
“Substantial changes should be quantified accordingly: for example, if new reporting or compliance obligations are introduced, the scope of application is extended or similar,” she added.
Tanja Gönner, CEO of Germany’s industry association BDI, told journalists that “although reducing bureaucracy is important at European level, this should not detract from the fact that there is also a great deal to do in Germany in this area”.
“We should always look at where Germany has put its famous ‘gold plating’ on top instead of always pointing the finger at others,” she said on Tuesday (16 January). “Gold plating” means that when an EU directive leaves room for national implementation, Germany has often chosen to implement it in the strictest possible terms.
Most recently, this was observed in the case of road tolls for trucks, where Germany went to the maximum on what it could do under EU law regarding a special CO2-surcharge introduced in December last year.
The German Social Democratic Party (SPD/S&D), a senior coalition partner of the FDP at the federal level, meanwhile, warned the FDP to fuel anti-EU sentiments.
“When it comes to bureaucracy, there are of course real problems,” Katarina Barley, the SPD’s lead candidate for the European election, told Euractiv.
“But the FDP must be careful not to go overboard and only fuel a prejudice about Europe,” she said, adding that “if you take a closer look, there is sometimes not much behind some of the complaints about bureaucracy – or there is a good reason for it”.
Nick Alipour has contributed to the reporting.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
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Source: euractiv.com
