Austria leads 11 EU states seeking 12-month pause on new rules
Group urges Brussels to stop introducing new EU laws for a year to prioritise implementation and simplification.
Austria has spearheaded a joint appeal by 11 EU member states asking the European Union to pause the adoption of new regulations for 12 months so existing rules can be fully implemented and simplified.
The initiative is signed by Austria, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Austrian Minister for European Affairs Claudia Bauer described the proposal as a "year of simplification."
"We cannot continue to introduce new legislative proposals until existing rules are fully implemented," Bauer said in Brussels. She warned that Brussels has been producing omnibus simplification packages but that those efforts so far are insufficient.
Calls for upfront simplification and regular reviews
Bauer argued that it should not become standard practice to adopt new regulations and only afterwards create additional acts to simplify them: "Simplification must start before regulations are adopted," she said.
The signatories demand that every law proposed by Brussels undergo rigorous scrutiny to determine whether it is appropriate and whether it contributes to the broader goal of strengthening economic competitiveness. They also call for all new regulations to be subject to an impact assessment every five years.
Several of the countries backing the initiative additionally want a substantial reduction in the EU's operational costs, a step that could align with an overall reduction in legislative volume.
Photo: press material from the event
