As part of its Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), the European Commission has drawn up a list of the top EU regulations it wishes to simplify or withdraw in a bid to make life easier for employers and workers, as well as to boost economic growth.
Included on the list is the withdrawal of the plan to require employers to offer 20 weeks’ maternity leave on full pay and a simplification of the Working Time Directive.
Speaking in Brussels last month, Commission President José Manuel Barroso stressed the importance of smart regulation and said that with REFIT, the commission had undertaken the most comprehensive exercise to date to make EU law lighter and simpler.
The Commission’s press release, published on October 2, contains an admission that, while regulation at EU level is essential in many areas, it is often accused of stifling businesses, especially the smallest ones, or of interfering too much in citizens’ daily lives.
In fact, 74 per cent of Europeans believe that the EU generates too much red tape and in response to that concern, the commission has made a concerted effort over the past few years to streamline legislation and reduce regulatory burdens.
The UK government is delighted by the move, as it has openly criticised what it sees as unnecessary European regulation and legal intervention in some areas, particularly around business activity.
To that end, it has been working with partners in Europe to improve the regulatory environment in the EU, has ended the ‘gold-plating’ of EU regulations and is reforming or abolishing hundreds of domestic regulations through the Red Tape Challenge.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, a panel of business leaders published their government-commissioned report into EU red tape, which set out how the EU could promote enterprise and boost growth by sweeping away poorly understood and burdensome rules.