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The EU must stop regulating for Europe to grow again, says Rafaj

by AI | 29.Jan 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Representatives of the Czech Confederation of Industry and Transport in the Belgian capital presented their own document prepared together with experts, which describes what should be done to make Europe competitive again.

Seat of the European Commission (c) ALEX MICSIK / AGERPRES PHOTO

Brussels – The European Commission, according to the president of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic Jan Rafaj, should stop regulating, meaning not adopting new standards and letting business “breathe and focus on work”. Rafaj stated this on Tuesday evening at a meeting with journalists in Brussels. Representatives of the Czech Confederation of Industry and Transport presented their own document in the Belgian capital, prepared together with experts, which describes what should be done for Europe to become competitive again.

According to Rafaj, there are 68 specific measures that can relatively quickly “relieve companies from various regulations”. The document has already been offered to some politicians and discussed with representatives of the European Commission. “We worked with industry associations and experts for a year on what should be done to make Europe competitive again. We brought about a forty-page document where we describe what should happen in each area. We say that for competitiveness, it is primarily important to let us breathe and focus on work, which means a kind of legislative and regulatory detox,” said Rafaj.

According to him, Europe is digitally lagging behind the United States and China, yet recently, the European Commission has focused more on regulation than on supporting actual growth of giants. The new commission, according to the Confederation of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, should rather abolish obligations increasing administrative burden than adopt new ones. Even large companies no longer have the capacity to monitor and comply with ever-new regulations and directives, said the Czech confederation. The digital sector is also one of the most over-regulated areas in the EU; in the last parliamentary term, 116 legislative acts were proposed.

Rafaj further emphasized the need to focus on realistic climate goals. European climate goals must, according to the Czech Confederation, consider different conditions in individual member states and the real availability of decarbonization technologies. Not all sectors can be decarbonized as quickly as the current European legislation demands. Furthermore, according to Rafaj, European rules need to respect the national energy mix. For the Czech Republic, for example, it is crucial to prevent discrimination against nuclear energy and to align goals for renewable resources and energy savings with reality, states in the material titled Priorities of Czech Business in the EU. Rafaj mentioned additional topics in this context, namely working on reducing energy prices and supporting research and innovations. (January 29)