EU Targets 25% Red Tape Cut

Bureaucracy is almost a synonym for red tape.  The EU is almost the apotheosis of bureaucracy.

Businesses large and small will therefore be welcoming the much heralded announcement yesterday that the EU will be aiming to cut red tape by 25%, purportedly creating growth across member states of 3.5% ‘over time’.  

The EU industry commissioner, Gunther Verheugen made it clear that he’d like to see each member state taking up the target for implementation by 2012 but, as he says:

There will be states where the 25 percent cut is feasible and in others it won’t be. It’s not a legal obligation. It’s a commitment to a joint political target which every single member state is encouraged to go for.

No wonder the Forum of Private Business is concerned that like other similar pledges member states will rapidly begin to discuss the reasons why they can’t make the target, rather than how they are going to achieve it.

Tags: EU, small business, legislation

Alex is the founder and editor of SmallBizPod, the UK's first podcast dedicated to small business, start-ups and entrepreneurship. Alex writes about topical small business issues, entrepreneurs and anything else that catches his eye here on the small business blog. http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk