 |
|
|
 A report published earlier this week (14th October) by the European Commission’s High Level Group on Administrative Burdens, an influential group of independent advisers to the European Commission: on ways to reform the law-making process in Brussels. – chaired by Dr Edmund Stoiber – poses a danger to both workers and consumers alike, says the TUC.
The report suggests scrapping regulations and exempting small and medium businesses from EU rules on employment rights, health and safety, and environmental protection.
As well as making recommendations to the European Commission, the group also made recommendations to the European Institutions as well as to the individual countries that make up the EU.
It is also very similar to the attacks on workers rights, and employment legislation that the TTIP proposes.
However, it has drawn severe criticism from four of the 15 members of the group who are publishing a ‘dissenting opinion’ alongside the main report.
They argue that the report’s claims of economic benefit an unsupported by factual foundation and that it does not recognise the costs to society of failure to regulate.
 TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“Deregulation led to the financial crisis and those who believe it is the ideological answer to every problem are guilty of dangerous magical thinking.
It’s no wonder that Stoiber failed to get the support of the whole group when his proposals will put workers and consumers at risk by scrapping employment rights, health and safety duties and environmental protection.
Even the main trade association for Europe’s small firms has rejected the proposals as senseless.”
But of course the UK coalition are in favour of the report, and issued this press release the same day as the report was published:
'The group called on the Commission to introduce an offsetting system for new European legislation, where any new regulatory burdens are offset by cuts in red tape elsewhere, similar to the system that already exists in the UK.
Commenting on the report, Michael Gibbons OBE, member of the High Level Group on Administrative Burdens and Chair of the UK’s Regulatory Policy Committee highlighted the need for more work to be done at the European level:
“The European Commission has done much to alleviate the unnecessary burden of regulation on Europe’s businesses, but, there is still much more to be done The report argues especially for improved processes for consultation with all stakeholders, and an independent scrutiny body in order to raise the quality of assessments of the impacts on society, including business, consumers and the economy.
The next Commission needs to move forward with an ever challenging programme of opportunities to remove unnecessary red tape and play a significant role in promoting the prosperity of Europe.”
You can download the report by clicking on the pic above. It is also available for download from the E-Library Database
Source: TUC / GNN / Unionsafety
|
|
|
Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services
|
