During a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg devoted to the report titled “Regulatory Efficiency of the European Union and Subsidiarity and Proportionality—Better Lawmaking in 2023–2024,” MEP Kosma Złotowski criticized the direction of the EU’s regulatory policy. Speaking on behalf of the ECR Group, he pointed out the growing number of regulations rather than actual deregulation.
“Once again, as we do every session, we are meeting to discuss deregulation. Or rather, regulation, because it’s hard to call what the European Union is doing today ‘deregulation,’” said the MEP.
The politician emphasized that, according to the treaties, the EU should only enact legislation when it is truly necessary. In his view, this principle is not being followed in practice.
“Of course, according to the treaties and principles, the EU should only enact laws when it is necessary. It’s a wonderful idea. But somehow I find it hard to believe that a ban on the sale of new internal-combustion cars or the mandatory attachment of bottle caps to bottles is truly necessary,” he noted.
According to Złotowski, many EU regulations can hardly be considered a response to the real needs of citizens and the economy.
“This isn’t a necessity; it’s the opposite of a necessity. It’s a grim joke, and the whole idea of better lawmaking remains, at best, an empty slogan,” he stated.
The MEP also noted that instead of genuinely reducing bureaucracy, EU institutions often postpone difficult decisions or replace one regulation with another.
“Instead of truly deregulating, the EU prefers to wait out problems and postpone decisions or regulate them in a different way. The problem is that at this rate, we’ll soon have nothing left to regulate,” he concluded.
