Thirteen EU countries, including Czechia, demand a halt to Brussels' flood of new legislation

Thirteen European Union member states — including Czechia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland and Slovakia — have signed an informal document calling for a "thorough clean-up of EU legislation." The news was reported by the Euronews portal.

In addition to the countries listed above, the document is backed by Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia. The initiative aims to review existing rules sector by sector and determine which ones are still needed, which require updating, and which merely create unnecessary burdens for businesses and citizens without any real benefit.

An alliance for simpler rules

The document was circulated ahead of the launch of a new coalition of EU countries, which began work on Monday. Its goal is to build a permanent network of states pushing for simplified regulation both at national and EU-wide level.

"EU legislation cannot be an end in itself. Avoiding overregulation and the introduction of new administrative burdens is a prerequisite for quality lawmaking in the European Union," the document states.

The initiative's authors propose declaring a "European Year of Consolidation," during which the EU would focus not on adopting new measures but on implementing and simplifying legislation already in force.

New criteria for laws

According to the document, any new rule should be assessed on how feasible, predictable and consistent with other legal acts it is, whether it is evidence-based, resilient to change, supportive of competitiveness, and respectful of the division of powers between the EU and member states.

The authors also insist that every new rule should be reviewed at least once every five years to check whether it has achieved its stated goals. "It is crucial to prevent the accumulation of excessive complexity, which could undermine the effectiveness — and consequently the legitimacy — of EU action, as well as reduce the attractiveness of the single market for business and investment," the document emphasizes.

Simplifying regulation is already on the agenda of the current European Commission, which has proposed so-called omnibus packages — reforms spanning areas from artificial intelligence rules to climate commitments, aimed at untangling the EU's complex regulatory system. However, as Euronews notes, the thirteen states' demands go considerably further than these initiatives.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz