Dombrovskis: EU red-tape reduction hindered by member states' diverging positions

Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification, has said that efforts to reduce the European Union's administrative burden regularly run into a gap between member states' declared political support and their actual positions in practice.

Support in principle, different reality in practice

According to Dombrovskis, EU member states generally support the idea of simplifying regulation and cutting bureaucracy at the political level. However, when it comes to formulating concrete national positions on specific proposals, that general support is not always maintained.

The omnibus proposals

The commissioner made the remarks while assessing the progress of the EU's so-called "omnibus" proposals — legislative packages through which the European Commission is trying to simplify and consolidate various regulations, thereby reducing the administrative burden placed on businesses and institutions. Dombrovskis is responsible for this process in his role covering economy and productivity as well as simplification and implementation.

The diverging positions among member states make it harder to reach agreement on specific simplification steps, even though the overall goal of reducing bureaucracy enjoys broad support.