Austrian together with 10 other countries has submitted a request to halt the approval of new EU regulations for 12 months. Claudia Bauer, Austria's Minister for European Affairs, described this action as a "year of simplification." According to Bauer, continuing to approve new regulations while existing laws have not been fully implemented is not logical.
The Need for a Thorough Assessment of New Regulations
Bauer stated in an interview: "We cannot continue to propose new legal suggestions while existing laws have not yet been fully implemented." These remarks refer to a controversial document signed by Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Portugal, and Hungary.
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Austria and its allied countries believe that every law proposed from Brussels should undergo a thorough assessment regarding its appropriateness and impact on economic competitiveness. According to their proposal, all new regulations should be reviewed every five years.
Simplification Before the Approval of Laws
Bauer also emphasized that Brussels should dedicate a full year to assessing current laws and focus on what has already been approved. She said: "This effort should not be seen as a removal of new laws, but rather as a deep legal cleansing process." This statement is part of the draft of the controversial document.
Bauer quoted Elvis Presley, saying: "We need more action and less dialogue." These remarks reflect Austria's dissatisfaction with the current process of law approval and Brussels' efforts to reduce bureaucracy, which they refer to as "comprehensive packages."
Bauer believes that the actions currently being taken are primarily post-event simplifications and cannot be considered a standard for approving new laws and then passing other regulations to simplify them. She emphasized the need for simplification before the approval of laws.
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