The Finnish government sent the European Commission a list of concrete proposals on Thursday 5 March aimed at simplifying more than 40 pieces of EU legislation, it said in a statement.
These proposals were outlined in more detail by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
They include a list of legislation that has an impact on business and industry “and whose simplification could reduce the administrative burden on businesses”. This letter is part of the work on simplification ahead of the March European Council.
The various Finnish ministries have examined European regulations in their respective areas, particularly from the point of view of business and industry.
“In the current geopolitical context, we must focus on predictability of our own operating environment and quality of legislation”, writes the Prime Minister.
Simplification measures should be taken into account to a greater extent in future initiatives so that “the most burdensome requirements are already identified at the preparatory stage. Attention should also be paid to the predictability and enforceability of EU rules.
To achieve this, dialogue between the Commission and Member States is needed in all stages of the legislative cycle, from preparation to ex-post evaluation”.
Nature Restoration Regulation. “We must continue to support the clean transition as this is the cornerstone of EU’s competitiveness”, but the rules “can be simplified without compromising our ambitious environmental and climate targets”.
For example, a review the regulations on nature restoration is needed, says the Prime Minister. "Nature Restoration Regulation is of key importance for Finland. The Commission has initially estimated that the costs (per capita and based on GDP) of implementation of the regulation in Finland are by far the highest in the EU. The most significant restoration costs arise from measures concerning water bodies, forests, and peatlands. [...] We look for different avenues on how to affect costs and keep the administrative burden to minimum”.
On digital, “while we welcome the Commission proposal for Digital Omnibus in this regard, more comprehensive assessments would be in place to examine whether further simplification in digital, data and AI regulations would be necessary”.
These “suggestions focus on clarifying the interplay between the EU’s digital and data protection acquis, relieving burden for SMEs and deleting overlapping requirements arising from different EU rules”.
Further avenues are being explored in relation to the industrial emissions and water directives, as well as the EU’s defence industry. “Our proposed simplification measures on defence and security procurement would accelerate the completion of procurement procedures which is vital considering the current security situation”.
Link to the Prime Minister’s letter and proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/l0t; https://aeur.eu/f/l11 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)