BUSINESSEUROPE: TOP QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS CHECKS ARE NEEDED FOR ALL EU POLICY AND REGULATORY INITIATIVES

Commenting on the publication of the European Commission communication on the Long-term competitiveness of the EU, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer says: “Top quality competitiveness checks are needed for all EU policy and regulatory initiatives.” 

• “We urgently need to define and implement a strong and ambitious long-term competitiveness strategy ensuring that Europe becomes THE place to invest and do business again.
• Concrete actions are needed to reduce the cost of compliance with European regulation. We welcome President von der Leyen’s recent pledge to reduce reporting burden by 25%, and look forward to tangible proposals.
• The European Commission must live up to its commitment to carry out top quality competitiveness checks on all EU regulatory initiatives, taking the cumulative impact of EU legislation on companies into account. In addition to individual legislative initiatives, the competitiveness check should assess the impacts of strategies and Commission annual work programmes in their entirety.” 

On the publication of the European Commission communication “The Single Market at 30”, Markus J. Beyrer states: “More concrete actions needed to achieve a fully functioning Single Market.” 

• “The European companies consider that EU Single Market is the crown jewel of the European Union. 30 years is a significant milestone to celebrate, but it is also time for concrete actions for the benefit of citizens and businesses.
• We welcome the Commission’s acknowledgement of the urgent need to deepen the Single Market. But the proposed actions fall short of addressing barriers to the internal market for services. For example, 60% of current barriers to the provision of services have been there for 20 years and now also hamper the twin transition. A thorough screening of permitting, licencing and authorisation schemes, also beyond the narrow scope of services related to clean-tech, would help move forward.
• A fully-fledged programme to advance the Single Market integration by removing regulatory barriers to cross-border business operations and reducing bureaucracy has the potential to unleash €713 billion by the end of 2029. The time to act is now.”