While the hegemons, USA and China are committed to innovation and the facilitation of entrepreneurship and research, The European Union has only stood out so far for its regulatory and bureaucratic zeal. These could be the words of the most critical and eurosceptic, but they are from the president of the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen. But he does not blame community policies, but rather the member countries, urging them to .
The message was sent to the European Parliament: Brussels is not the only one responsible for the regulatory tangle that suffocates companies. “It is time to do a deep regulatory cleanup at all levels”he stated this Wednesday.
His intervention comes on the eve of an informal retreat of EU leaders focused on competitiveness, in a context of growing business pressure and transatlantic tensions.
“They spend almost as much on bureaucracy as on R&D”
Von der Leyen was forceful: “Companies tell us that they spend almost as much on bureaucracy as on research and development; that cannot be”he pointed out. Since the beginning of its second mandate, the Commission has promoted an agenda of regulatory simplification in response to complaints from Member States and the private sector.
But the president stressed that the problem is not only European. “We must also analyze the national level: there is too much overregulation”he stated, referring to the fact that countries add to community standards, fragmenting the single market.
Clash with Rome and Berlin
Von der Leyen’s intervention comes after the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloniand the German chancellor, Fiedrich Merzwill publish a joint document in which They attributed a good part of the European economic stagnation to Brussels regulation.
The president responded without mentioning them directly, but making the point clear: if they really want to simplify, national governments must also eliminate internal obstacles.
Specific examples: trucks and waste
Von der Leyen illustrated the fragmentation with a practical example: the different weight limits for trucks in France and Belgium, two neighboring countries. The Commission proposed to harmonize the regulations, but “almost two years later it is still under debate,” he lamented.
Another case is the transport of waste within the EU. As he explained, it can take months to obtain approval from the authorities, due to differences in national regulations. For the president, these divergences contradict the logic of the single market.
Europe with the “handbrake on”
In the midst of tensions with Washington over industrial tariffs and digital regulation, Von der Leyen recalled that the EU has three times more internal trade barriers than the US.
“We have the second largest economy in the world, but we manage it with the handbrake on”
“We have the second largest economy in the world, but we manage it with the handbrake on”he stated. The basic message is that, without real integration and regulatory simplification, Europe loses ground to powers like the US and China.
The president announced that she will present a competitiveness roadmap to complete the single market by 2028. The plan will include legislative commitments with a horizon of 2027 and will be debated at a specific summit in March. “Time is of the essence,” he warned. “We need everyone to do their part.”
An open debate on the European model
The speech puts on the table a fundamental debate: to what extent does European regulation protect social and environmental standards, and to what extent does it slow down competitiveness? While some governments call for fewer rules, Commission tries to balance simplification with climate and social objectives.
Von der Leyen has made it clear that responsibility is shared. Bureaucracy is not just a “Brussels thing”. And other things being equal, regulatory cleanup must begin both in community institutions and in national capitals.
