“When the elephants fight, the grass gets trampled”. This proverb illustrates how conflicts between powerful entities often harm those caught in between.
A year ago, Mario Draghi presented his report: “The Future of European Competitiveness,” emphasising the need to simplify rules and reduce regulatory burdens for businesses in the EU to gain competitiveness (the rising weight of regulation). Following this, the Commission launched an ambitious agenda to streamline EU policies and laws, to make business easier and faster in Europe.
A quick search on the internet shows that terms like “simplification,” “administrative burden,” and “red tape” have appeared in nearly every Commission mandate over the past two decades, always recognised as barriers to competitiveness. Yet, despite this recognition, there has not been meaningful progress on this matter. And why is this so?
Examining the legislative history reveals that the volume of new EU laws has remained relatively stable over the different mandates, with only the approach to simplification evolving.
During Barroso’s time as president of the European Commission (2004 to 2014), the Commission made a notable use of its legislative powers (it is probably the most prolific period in terms of new legislation), and the focus of simplification was to request Member States to avoid over-transposition (“gold-plating”) of EU legislation at national level. There were even some concrete goals (such as cutting unnecessary administrative burden for businesses in the EU by 25%) and initiatives (the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens).
President Juncker slowed down the adoption of new EU legislation (although not significantly), committed to identify “red tape” that could be swiftly removed and introduced mechanisms to avoid administrative burden beforehand (grosso modo, the “Better regulation” package as we know it today). Von der Leyen’s first mandate saw a resurgence in legislative proposals but lacked a concrete simplification agenda.
Draghi’s findings suggest that minimal progress in reducing administrative burdens has been achieved in the past 20 years (if at all). This suggests to me that cutting red tape may not have been the real objective.
Coming back to the elephant metaphor and keeping other considerations aside (the tendency to regulate is strong in Europe. As the saying goes: “The U.S. innovates, China replicates, and the EU regulates”). I believe that the ongoing power struggle between the Commission and Member States (when the elephants fight) over legislative control seems to be the underlying issue. Efforts to address administrative burden were an attempt to minimise the known consequences on competitiveness of this dispute, and EU companies were the grass that gets trampled.
What’s different in the current mandate is the Commission’s commitment to place simplification at the core of its agenda, aiming to reduce red tape without compromising legislative goals and scope, and more importantly, leading by example (reviewing its own legislation) and in consultation with the sectors affected. As I see it, this is an extremely positive and promising shift, and a brave movement from the Commission side.
However, looking at our own sector and the constellation of stakeholders around us, reactions to this initiative vary. Some feel it does not go far enough, lacking measures for deregulation, while others see it as a potential threat to the application of the precautionary principle and environmental protection. Between these extremes are some stakeholders truly willing to engage, with different levels of readiness.
Over the past months, we have seen how actively engaging in this exercise, is not so easy. It requires (and will require) a certain effort to self-assess current practices and operations and link them to existing legislation, to come with real and functional solutions to improve EU legislation.
For this new approach to be successful for the plant breeding and seed sector, it will require a longer-term commitment from the Commission (one mandate might not be enough), an effort from the sector to change the mindset and include it in the daily work, and, very importantly, a similar exercise to happen at national/regional level, where there are clear differences in the way certain Member States approach this issue.
This is not an offer that we receive very often, and I truly believe that we should try to do our best to get the most out of this opportunity.
César González is Manager of Public Affairs at Euroseeds
