Better Regulation: businesses push for ambitious agenda

BusinessEurope hosted a conference on Better Regulation bringing together high-level speakers and guests from EU institutions, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), national administrations and the business community on 4 December in Brussels. BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer, who opened the event, stressed the importance of better regulation for both businesses and citizens, linking it to the legitimacy of the EU Single Market governance. European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans then held an introductory speech. “We’ve come a long way, but we have not yet reached the point of no return”, he said.  Timmermans emphasised that better regulation is the culture change in decision-making and more work is needed to ensure that it is a lasting one. The First Vice-President also stressed that continuation of the better regulation agenda under the next Commission is key for achieving this. Two interactive panels then discussed the transparency and quality of EU decision-making and regulatory simplification, moderated by the Vice-Chairs of BusinessEurope’s Better Regulation Working Group, Christoph Bausch (BDI) and François Baur (Economiesuisse). Jens Hedström (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise), Chair of BusinessEurope’s Better Regulation Working Group, made a strong plea for the continuation of the REFIT platform under the next Commission. Martynas Barysas, BusinessEurope Director for Internal Market, highlighted that transparency in implementation is fundamental, and that better regulation thus not only relates to EU decision-making processes but also to the EU Member State level. He added that dialogue with stakeholders throughout the decision-making cycle also helps businesses to understand the objectives of rules and to better comply with them. Read our latest positions on Better Regulation here - Photos