Brussels, 06/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - Putting forward in inventory of the “Better regulation” initiative, launched in March 2005 (see EUROPE 8911), as part of an exchange of views with members of the EP legal affairs committee, chaired by Giuseppe Gargani (EPP-ED, Italy), Industry Commissioner Günther Verheugen said progress had been made but regretted the delays in simplification. Speaking about each of the three pillars of the initiative, Mr Verheugen said that:
the examination of legal acts pending led, in 2005, to the removal of 68 proposals from a total of 183. In 2006, the Commission is reviewing 79 proposals sent by the EP and Council between 1st January and 30 November 2004;
the complete review of the body of EU law, however, has encountered a number of difficulties. On the one hand, the task of codification, to make the existing law more manageable, has encountered many pitfalls, said Mr Verheugen, drawing attention to two major problems, the first related to language and the second to the legislative amendment of legal acts which are to be codified. He said that the Commission took care that legal acts which were being codified were not amended, but he complained that “codification is for ever coming up against new draft amendments from the two legislative bodies, resulting in the waste of a great deal of time, money and staffing”. He said that he would raise this issue in the next communication on “Better regulation”, which he will present to the College of Commissioners on 14 November. On the other hand, the completion of the targeted simplification of the current legal acquis was difficult and was forever and everywhere meeting obstacles. The overall result so far, he said, was not satisfactory. He pointed out that of the 56 initiatives projected for 2006, the level of implementation before the summer was precisely 4%. Announcing that the Commission would present a new legislation simplification programme concentrating on reducing administrative costs in November, the Commissioner urged the EP and Council to back the Commission and give priority to the simplification of the law;
to guarantee an sustainable, predictable and transparent legal framework, the Commission has been consulting as widely as possible since 2005. “High level groups which I set up - for key sectors for our economies, like car building and the pharmaceutical industry, or on fundamental issues of our time, like the relationship between competitiveness, energy and the environment - have taken part in the extended consultation process,” said Mr Verheugen, regretting that this practice had “caused misunderstandings in the EP”. “This practice does not commit either the Commission or the Parliament. It is a way for us to have the experience, knowledge and political clearsightedness of a wide a social spectrum as possible at our disposal,” he went on, inviting MEPs to take an active part in the high level groups. Pointing out too that, since 2005, the Commission had been working to assess the impact of all new legislative proposals on the political, economic, financial, social and environmental levels, particularly to the benefit of SMEs, he opined that “savings of a dozen billion, a 25% reduction in bureaucracy, is an acceptable objective”.
During the debate which followed, German MEP Kurt Lechner (EPP-ED) wondered about the political consequences of simplification. “Simplifying could amount to opening a Pandora's box because some of the texts have resulted from political compromises. It is only in the application of the law the errors become apparent,” he said. Several MEPs drew attention to the requirement for clarity and institutional agreement when the legal text is verified. On the level of impact assessments, most of the MEPs who spoke argued for the confirmation of the independence of these studies by having a panel of experts work on the assessment. (ym-eh)