German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday said he wants to put a “stick in the wheels” of the EU’s legislative machine, railing against overregulation by officials in Brussels.
Speaking to businesspeople from his Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance, Merz said he planned to bring a “precise list of demands” and “very concrete demands” to limit overregulation from Brussels to an informal EU leaders’ meeting next week in Copenhagen.
The comments are among Merz’s sharpest critiques of the European Commission in Brussels, which is led by his party colleague Ursula von der Leyen, since he assumed the chancellorship in May.
“You know that I am a truly committed European, but the way things have been going in the European Union in recent years, with the European Union regulating more and more and more, cannot continue,” Merz said.
“Let me put it in a vivid and figurative way — we must now put a stick in the wheels of this machine in Brussels to put an end to this constant regulation from the European Union’s legislative machine,” Merz said.
The Commission says it is working hard to reduce red tape.
“We have already put forward six major simplification proposals in this mandate,” Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said on Saturday. “We will have another two this year,” she added, calling the drive to reduce bureaucracy a “high priority.”
Hans von der Burchard contributed to this report.
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