26 November 2015
Dear First Vice-President Timmermans,
As you know, the European economy is at a pivotal moment. In many countries
economic recovery is on the way. But it is not secured for the long term. The
challenge of global competition is intense. We must rise to this and deliver new
sources of growth and productivity, unleashing the potential of all businesses
from the smallest start-ups to the biggest multinationals.
This requires real change. Our regulatory system needs to be fit for the 21
st
century. This means better and simpler regulation. Unnecessary burdens in EU
legislation must be removed while always taking into account proper protection
of consumers, health, the environment, employees and financial market stability
and respecting existing protection standards.
We welcome your leadership and the more strategic approach already taken by
this Commission in pursuit of this objective. We welcome the streamlined 2016
Commission Work Programme and its focus on competitiveness. We also
welcome the Commission’s commitment to the ‘Think Small First’ principle,
and the resultant improvements already delivered, and hope we can use the
ongoing negotiations on the Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Regulation
to obtain equally strong commitments from the Council and European
Parliament. However, we feel this could be further strengthened to ensure that
this commitment translates into action.
We support your commitment to better regulation. Like you, we recognise the
need to address the quality of EU legislation as well as to reduce its overall
regulatory burden, without undermining its policy goals. This must include both
the existing acquis and new proposals in order to ensure that EU regulation is
transparent, simple and is achieved at minimum cost, while fostering
competitiveness, growth and jobs.
We must build on the momentum for change in our regulatory culture and
ensure that progress is never rolled back. It must nourish entrepreneurship and
innovation, and provide for the future prosperity of all our citizens.
You have demonstrated great ambition in the reforms you have already
introduced and in your better regulation package of May 2015. But one
particular – and essential – reform is still missing: we now need to establish
targets for reducing the burden of regulation in particularly burdensome areas,
in line with the conclusions of the Competitiveness and European Councils.