Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have called for an “emergency brake on bureaucracy” ahead of this week’s EU summit in Brussels.
In a joint letter to European Council President Antonio Costa, the three leaders urged the bloc to cut the administrative burden on businesses.
They said checks and compliance requirements should be “proportionate to the risks and expected benefits”. Their proposed “emergency brake” would let the European Council intervene as a last resort, though they did not explain how it would work.
The three also proposed a structural measure to speed up planning and permitting procedures for investment in strategic sectors, including energy, decarbonisation, digital technology, artificial intelligence and defence.
Under a proposed “priority rule”, such investments would be given preferential treatment through the temporary suspension of certain regulations.
They also called for reduced reporting obligations, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. The leaders want to reverse the burden of proof so that the EU would have to show that any reporting requirement is truly necessary.
The EU’s 27 heads of state and government will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. According to Antonio Costa’s office, economic competitiveness will be the first topic on the agenda.
Leaders are expected to assess progress on the “One Europe, One Market” roadmap, adopted in the spring to strengthen the single market.
The talks will also cover energy prices, which continue to weigh on European industry, as well as macroeconomic imbalances between the EU and China.
