European Parliament endorses smart regulation

An event for us smart regulators : a report on better legislation, subsidiarity and proportionality, and smart regulation was adopted by the European Parliament. Subject to reading the full 22 page report, filed by Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim, the content seems close to that if the  joint report by the UK, DK and NL (March 2010) already reported on this blog.

The report is important and useful in that it sums up the current potential of smart regulation in the evolution of the institutional balance in the European Union, in the context of the Lisbon treaty and EU2020. More forceful burden cutting was necessary to restore European competitiveness, threatened by countries such as India and China says Sajjad. The report and motion were adopted by the EP.

Some of the ideas are excerpted in a declaration on the MEP’s personal site, published yesterday, which makes for easier reading (link pointed out by DT), among which the idea that the EU may still fail to reach its target of reducing administrative burdens by 25% before the end of next year, partly because of national “gold-plating” of EU rules.