Brussels, 18/12/2014 (Agence Europe)- On Thursday 18 December, Germany's Edmund Stoiber was appointed by Jean-Claude Juncker as special adviser to the European Commission on better regulation. The first vice-president, Frans Timmermans, announced the reform of the Impact Assessment Board.
“EU citizens need the EU to focus where it can make a real difference to their lives, not to interfere in every detail; EU businesses need the space to innovate and grow, not get tied up in red tape. Edmund Stoiber has helped the Commission on this quest for seven years now, identifying unnecessary burdens on business, and helping the Commission improve the business environment”, Jean-Claude Juncker explained.
The Bavarian member of the CSU, a party allied to Chancellor Merkel, has a fiendish reputation and is the former chair of a high-level group on reducing the administrative burden between 2007 and 2014. His most recent report of 14 October prescribed a 'lean' regime, his main recommendation consisting of establishing a net target for bringing down administrative costs and the annual publication of the costs and benefits brought about by any new piece of legislation. Stoiber suggested the need to reduce the administrative burden by a further 10% in the next two or three years. NGOs spoke out against a report which proposed to exempt SMEs from a considerable number of rules, including sanitary ones. It is in any case his expertise and experience in regulation which earned Stoiber the appointment as adviser. Stoiber will receive no salary for this work, with only his travel expenses to be reimbursed, Juncker's spokesperson said. “Dr Stoiber's arrival as Special Adviser shows that reducing regulatory burden and improving implementation is at the core of the Commission's effort to deliver the benefits that citizens expect at minimum costs”, said Frans Timmermans, who recently announced in Strasbourg that 80 legislative texts will be pulled in 2015.
As regards reform of the Impact Assessment Board, “the Commission will transform the Impact Assessment Board into a Regulatory Scrutiny Board, including two external members. All members will be independent, working full-time exclusively for the Board and be transparently selected on the basis of their expertise. The mandate of the board will be extended to include the review of major retrospective analyses”. (SP)