On Thursday 11 September, the European Parliament adopted the own-initiative report by Anna-Maja Henriksson (Renew Europe, Finnish) on compliance with single market rules (see EUROPE 13682/17). In it, MEPs call for the rules governing the single market to be simplified, without compromising the climate and social objectives set in recent years.
During the debate preceding the vote, on Thursday 11 September, several members of the EPP, PfE and ECR regretted that the report did not go further in terms of simplification.
Therefore, the outcome of the negotiations on this report “is not ideal”, according to shadow rapporteur, Henrik Dahl (EPP, Danish), because “not everyone in this Parliament is prepared to do what is necessary and get down to work” to support business in the EU. He also pointed the finger at the Socialists and Democrats for their lack of ambition on the text, in his view.
For the S&D Group, but also for the rapporteur, Anna-Maja Henriksson, simplification must not come at the expense of the EU’s social and environmental standards. This is why the compromise put to the vote and approved calls on the Commission to propose simplification legislation “where necessary and justified by impact assessments” and which should “improve regulatory coherence, preserve legal predictability for companies and should not undermine agreed policy objectives”.
See the own-initiative report: https://aeur.eu/f/idp (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)