La Commission fait un "petit pas" sur la voie d'une amélioration de la réglementation européenne [en] 

Enterprise Commissioner Verheugen presented plans to withdraw 68 pending proposals to the Parliament on 27 September 2005. The initiative is part of the Barroso Commission's strategy to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and economic growth by simplifying the EU's existing laws (20,000 legislative acts) and relieve business and citizens from unnecessary administrative burdens. But this "better regulation" has come under fire from critics for amounting to nothing more than neo-liberal "deregulation" (see EurActiv 27 September 2005).

The European Commission intends to scrap one third of current proposals that are in the legislative process. From the 183 draft bills screened, it will withdraw 68 and review 6 others for further impact analysis. 

Some examples of proposed laws to be axed are:

• draft directive on labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs;
• draft directive for a weekend ban for trucks;
• draft regulation on sales promotion in the internal market;
• draft regulations for the statute of a European Association and a European Mutual Society;
• draft directive on safety requirements for cabin crews on planes;
• draft directive on exposure of workers to optical radiation ('sunshine directive').

Some proposals in the pipeline will undergo an economic analysis to assess the impact on competitiveness:

• the proposed regulation on F-gases (which is already in second reading in the Parliament);
• a draft regulation on waste shipments

The controversial draft directive on temporary workers will be reviewed in the light of the progress on the services directive. 

In his presentation to the European Parliament, Commissioner Verheugen underlined the following points:

• "Today’s communication is a relatively small initial step towards realising the much bigger and more ambitious project for 'better regulation in Europe';
• "Let me make it quite clear: it is not a matter of deregulating for ideological reasons";
• "The proposals in question will be deemed to have been formally withdrawn only when this has been published in the Official Journal".

The three big groups in the Parliament welcomed the Commission's proposals but criticised the fact that the Commission had leaked information to the media before informing the Parliament. Most MEPs insisted on the Parliament's right to have a final say in the proposed withdrawals. Parliament President Borrell announced that the Parliament's legal service will study whether the Commission can withdraw a proposal that is already in second reading.

EurActiv will look at business and NGO reactions to the commission's proposals in subsequent coverage.