The European Union Commission has adopted a strategy of implementation and simplification for five years to reduce costs by at least a quarter for all companies, said the Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification, Valdis Dombrovskis.
“Our objective is to reduce costs by at least 25 percent for all companies and by 35 percent for SMEs. Cost cuts by a quarter would mean reducing recurrent administrative costs by €37.5 billion,” Dombrovskis said while exchanging views with a group of journalists from different member states at the EU headquarters in Brussels on October 2.
He said that the strategy, “A simpler and faster Europe,” would make EU rules and regulations simpler and more proportionate.
“This is not all a Brussels-based effort. We need member states to translate legislation into meaningful, impactful changes for European businesses,” Dombrovskis said.
“But I want to be clear on what simplification is not. Simplification is not about lowering our standards. Our aim is to reduce the burden without undermining policy objectives,” he added.
He said that the commission had so far presented six legislative simplification omnibus — sustainability reporting, investments, small mid-caps, agriculture, defence and chemical. Together, they present annual savings of more than €8 billion for businesses.
The commissioner also focused on the efforts to bolster European defence, security, reparations loans for Ukraine, the 19th sanctions package on Russia and the drone wall discussed in the informal European Council in Copenhagen on October 1.
Referring to a virtual meeting with the G7 finance ministers on the same day, he said that the meeting had discussed further measures to increase economic pressure on Russia to end the war and ensure lasting peace in Ukraine.
“Both in Copenhagen and at the G7 level, we discussed the reparations loan concept. With this, we can use cash balances linked to frozen Russian sovereign assets and issue a non-recourse loan to Ukraine that it would only repay once it receives reparations from Russia,” he said.
He also said that there had already been an agreement at European Council and G7 levels to freeze Russian assets until such a time as they pay for the damage caused in Ukraine.
Earlier in the morning, Telmo Baltazar, Principal Adviser for Corporate and Political Communication at the Directorate General for Communication, briefed the journalists on the work programme and priorities of the commission.
In the afternoon, Michael Wimmer, Director, Simplification, Implementation and Enforcement, presented a paper on “Simplification, Implementation and Enforcement” and Heinz Jansen, Principal Adviser and Head of the EU's future Competitiveness Task Force spoke on “Competitiveness.”
The journalists also visited the studio of the European Broadcasting Service during the event organised by the European Commission.
- EU
- Simplification
- Valdis Dombrovskis
- Journalists visit
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
