By Martin Vlachynský, Analyst at the Institute of Economic and Social Studies in Slovakia, 4liberty.eu
It started with curved bananas, continued with cookie banners and lightbulb bans, and ended with the Digital Services Act. What used to be a running joke has turned into a sour taste after years—Europe has a real problem with excessive bureaucracy.
Do not click away! I know this claim already reads like an annoying earworm. Everybody talks about the problem of red tape in the EU. Even EU officials talk about it. They analyse, discuss, and criticise—and then come up with solutions. At least since the Draghi–Letta reports, EU efforts to curb bureaucracy have turned more serious. REFIT, Omnibus, and the general better-regulation agenda seem to be moving at a higher pace.
Yet I believe those won’t be enough.
Europe’s policy culture seems to be: regulate first, let grow later. We are too afraid to let a market or sector emerge first and only then consider whether top-down, centralised rules are needed. AI? Fintech? Orbital travel? How do you want to proceed if you do not have the rules set by the Commission first?
A whole administrative ecosystem thrives on this culture. The ranks and files of the Commission have preparation of new regulations as their daily job. Ministers from Member States use the Commission as a tool to push national agendas for which they lack sufficient domestic political capital. Numerous civic NGOs are nurtured with project funds to loop back regulatory proposals disguised as the “voice of concerned citizens”. Entrepreneurs and consumers are considered incompetent to regulate their own behaviour by default. Europe is a continent of small, malevolent kids who need strict rules.
The current better-regulation efforts by the second von der Leyen Commission are no “chainsaw”. Yet they have already stirred cries from various stakeholders who deem them too radical. With a bit of panic in its eyes, the Commission claims left and right that it does not want deregulation—it only wants simplification. Deregulation is a scary word, a dirty word!
We have decided to raise an opposing voice: for deregulation, not mere simplification. Who? A group of 12 Central and East European liberal, pro-market think tanks, networked under the umbrella of 4liberty.eu. On 10 December, we presented our joint Manifesto in Brussels. Besides network members, there are 50 more signatories, ranging from NGOs to business alliances, academic institutions, and individual experts.
The European Union should embrace a more bottom-up, innovation-friendly approach to regulation—one that trusts consumers and entrepreneurs to make informed choices and innovate freely, while maintaining essential safeguards for consumers, safety, and the environment. This vision is embodied in four points of the Manifesto:
- Commitment to deregulation, not only simplification—not as an ideological goal, but as a practical strategy for competitiveness. This means actively reviewing, consolidating, or removing outdated rules and preventing unnecessary new ones. We call for a net reduction in the total number of legislative acts by 1% per year.
- Introduction of a universal sunset clause to help automate the reduction of red tape. A universal sunset clause of five years should be part of every new directive and every revision of an older one. Renewal beyond this period should require a transparent cost–benefit analysis proving at least a +30% net benefit.
- Formal push for national deregulation should also become part of EU policy. A set of metrics needs to be chosen from existing ones (DESI, OECD STRI, etc.) or newly developed scoreboards and indicators, then regularly evaluated. Targets and milestones should be set and bundled with the EU Structural and Investment Funds in a way similar to the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
- Revitalisation of the single market is a call for liberalising occupational regulations, the labour market, and the services sector. There should be greater harmonisation in the EU’s permitting approach across the industrial and infrastructure ecosystem. Furthermore, the EU should establish universal accessibility standards for national public institutions to facilitate transnational interactions with businesses, investors, and employees.
The problem of bureaucracy is important not only from an economic point of view. Criticism of excessive red tape has become a stronger vocal part of many populist campaigns across Europe. We should not be afraid to voice more radical anti-bureaucratic demands as part of the mainstream policy agenda—or else the topic may be hijacked by populists.
We invite you to read the Manifesto in full, share it, and consider becoming a signatory.
Deregulation, Not Simplification. Europe’s Way Out of Bureaucracy. @4LibertyEu Manifesto. https://t.co/Ybs0VRUmMB
— Marek Tatała (@MarekTatala) December 22, 2025
Disclaimer: www.BrusselsReport.eu will under no circumstance be held legally responsible or liable for the content of any article appearing on the website, as only the author of an article is legally responsible for that, also in accordance with the terms of use.
