As the European Commission today in Brussels presented a much-welcomed new set of proposals to improve effectiveness and transparency throughout the EU's legislative procedure (the so-called 'Better Regulation package'), the S&D Group warned that "better regulation should not be an excuse for more deregulation."
S&D vice president Enrique Guerrero Salom MEP stated:
"We welcome the proposal from the Commission and we are ready for positive negotiations in order to reach a common agreement. As of yet, it's only a proposal and the S&D Group will carefully negotiate so that our key priorities and red lines are taken into consideration, bearing in mind that better regulation sometimes may mean 'less', but often means 'more'."
Richard Corbett MEP, spokesperson for the S&D Group on better regulation said:
"The Commission has clearly listened to the Parliament and our group on a number of points. If we get this agreement right it will have benefits for transparency and for citizens throughout the EU. But we must be wary of those who will want to use this agreement to other ends than those benefiting European citizen and who see it as a way to simply exempt businesses from their obligations to workers, consumers or the environment.
"There needs to be more clarity on the Commission's idea to have both a Regulatory Scrutiny Board and independent panel. These impact assessments should be comprehensive and not just look at the costs imposed on businesses, but also the cost to health services, consumers, workers' rights and the environment of not regulating."
Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann MEP, European Parliament rapporteur on REFIT, the Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme which is part of this new package, said:
"I believe it is important to support the European Commission in its efforts to take the recurring complaints of too much 'Brussels bureaucracy' seriously.
"However, it is equally important to ensure that social and environmental achievements in Europe are not compromised under the guise of reducing bureaucracy".
