BFBEnergyPaper

4.3Short term fixes not requiring Treaty change“The EU has a massive paperwork administration problem in that it is unableto control its thousands of various departments in acting as one for the sakeof common sense. This in effect means that we are regularly subjected toa massive tide of written legislation and red tape that very often makes nosense whatsoever.”- Owner of a medium-sized manufacturing business based in East EnglandAs this paper has shown, expensive European regulation has become a serious problem forBritish businesses; the £86 billion cost of these laws (see Section 2.4) is clear evidence of theneed for powers to return to the member states. Because these costs are being felt today,it is important that action is taken as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are actions thatthe EU can and should take immediately, actions which would reassure the EIIs thinking ofmoving overseas and would, at least in the short term, reduce the number of European lawsgoing on the statute books.The changes discussed in this section are described as ‘short term’ because they can besecured within the current Treaties; these changes involve the EU changing its internalpractices, reviewing current policies and encouraging the UK to make better use of existingopt-out clauses. Without the longer term changes described below the policies detailed inthis section are not sufficient, but they would represent a good start for any renegotiation.First there needs to be much more scrutiny of proposed EU laws. The appointment of a newEuropean Commission is a golden opportunity to reassess how regulations are determinedat the European level. The EU needs to fundamentally change its approach, in the wordsof the British Ceramic Confederation: “there are issues with the approach of the EU whichshould be addressed in order to improve performance and outcomes.” 164 In particular, thenew Commission needs to introduce a more critical approach to new proposals, an approachwhich clearly and explicitly takes the concerns of businesses more into consideration.One immediate step that the Commission could take is to improve the quality of its impactassessments when proposing new laws. When the EU proposes new laws the proposalshould show how the Commission has considered the impact that each law will have onbusinesses in each member state. There is a pressing need for each new European proposalto i) show how the proposal will facilitate cross border trade and ii) show that it has takeninto account business opinion. In short EU lawmakers need to show that they are usingevidence when they are devising policy and demonstrate that, for all future energy policyproposals, the EU is considering affordability, international competitiveness and security ofsupply, not just sustainability. This should be true of both original Commission proposalsand any subsequent amendments made to that proposal by the European Parliament.Energy Policyand the EU164 British Ceramic Confederation, Submission to the Balance of Competences50