A plan to simplify people's lives

Today, Renew Europe MEPs have taken the lead in addressing the widespread political consensus on the need for regulatory simplification. The group has established a task force, bringing together Renew Europe members from 16 parliamentary committees, to put forward concrete proposals for simplifying people's lives.

As a first step, Renew Europe has outlined 15 guiding principles to ensure that simplification efforts maintain the EU’s policy objectives while eliminating unnecessary complexity.

The European Commission has already introduced several ‘omnibus’ packages to streamline legislation, particularly in the field of sustainability. However, while some misuse the term simplification to undermine previously agreed policies, Renew Europe stresses that simplification is a much broader concept. It involves rationalizing rules, eliminating overlaps, and making compliance easier—without necessarily leading to deregulation.

Morten Løkkegaard (Venstre, Denmark), Vice President of Renew Europe and leader of the initiative, explains: “Everybody agrees on simplification, just not where. When asked, the response is often: ‘not in my legislative backyard’. That is why Renew Europe MEPs took a hard look at the legislation within their respective committees. The result is a list of 50 concrete measures to make life easier for people and businesses across the EU. These include alleviating reporting obligations for farmers, creating a single digital platform for the maritime sector, consolidating EU corporate rules into a single rulebook, eliminating overlaps in tech regulation, and simplifying access to EU funds.”

The task force will now enter the next phase by engaging with stakeholders to stress test these ideas and refine the proposals further.