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The EU Parliament voted yes on Thursday to the so-called Omnibus 1 proposal. It aims to reduce reporting regulations for businesses.
This is an important step towards fewer administrative burdens on European businesses, according to Danish Industry (DI), Danish Business and SMVdanmark.
– The EU desperately needs to tackle unnecessary bureaucracy so that businesses can thrive and continue to ensure our prosperity.
– This effort moves a step further with this vote, says DI’s CEO, Lars Sandahl Sørensen.
Among the small and medium-sized enterprises in SMVdanmark, there is also relief, says director Jesper Beinov.
– It can hardly be overstated how much this means.
– The pervasive bureaucracy is the biggest challenge for the competitiveness of Danish SMEs. Now we are finally starting to take concrete steps to ease the burdens, says Jesper Beinov.
Thursday’s vote comes after a slim majority in the EU Parliament surprisingly said no to the proposal in a vote in October.
This created doubt about one of the biggest agendas for both the EU Commission and the Danish EU presidency: Strengthened competitiveness in the EU.
The so-called Draghi report pointed out last year that an increasing number of rules from Brussels are suffocating European businesses.
The Greens and the Left are concerned that the simplifications of regulations will come at the expense of the green agenda.
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (SF), who has been the chief negotiator for the Greens, calls Thursday’s vote “a setback”:
– It is a dark day for Europe’s climate policy, says Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.
She believes that today’s vote could have far-reaching consequences for cooperation in the parliament.
The center-right EPP group chose to seek support for the simplifications of regulations from the right-wing in the EU Parliament to secure a majority.
This happened even though the Greens are part of the majority across the aisle that confirmed von der Leyen as president of the EU Commission.
– The consequence risks being unrest and chaos when the largest group among the pro-European parties rejects dialogue and instead seeks support from climate deniers and EU opponents.
– This is a dangerous course for our common future, which could create instability on a number of important agendas, says Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.
Danish People’s Party member of the EU Parliament, Anders Vistisen, has repeatedly criticized the attempt to exclude the right-wing from influence.
He calls the vote a “victory for less bureaucracy and hassle for our businesses.”
– First of all, we are now taking a concrete step to remove some of the insane regulations that hit Europeans every single year and which have been introduced by conservatives, social democrats, and liberals in the EU.
– But we also show that it is only the right-wing in the EU that can deliver the votes for such solutions – after a much less serious proposal among the old power parties on the same legislation was voted down last month, says Vistisen.
The vote means that the requirements for reporting on sustainability are eased for a number of European businesses.
This could be the first of several regulatory simplifications.
Both the EU Commission and the Danish EU presidency are pushing for new Omnibus packages to be adopted in the near future.
This is supported by the director of Danish Business, Morten Langager.
– The EU Parliament has today made the responsible choice and voted for the package, which is the first step towards a more competitive EU.
– We in Danish Business can only applaud this. But the applause will be short-lived, as there is still much to tackle, says Morten Langager.