By Brian Johnson - 7th December 2004
EU governments are to seek new ways of measuring and cutting red tape in a bid to cut down on Brussels regulations by 25 per cent.
Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm will announce proposals for a new system – based on his own country’s model of costing every regulation – to cut the burden on business during a Tuesday meeting of EU finance ministers.
Ministers are looking to have the new scheme up and running by the summer of 2005, and say they have the backing of the next four EU presidencies, to ensure changes are implemented.
Zalm, in an interview with FT Europe said that past deregulation drives had been fiercely resisted by Brussels bureaucrats, but this time, with the support of the new commission chief, José Manuel Barroso, member states mean business.
“In the past there was a great reluctance at the commission to take this up. They saw this as a great attack on the commission, as a very negative attitude," he said.
Zalm believes there is now a cultural shift at the European commission in support of deregulation.
The European Commission is currently preparing a document outlining how it will assess the cost of any future regulations.
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