Whose Burden? The Politics of ‘Red Tape’ in the EU
As the EU shifts gears from green ambition to global competitiveness, a wave of legislative proposals is planning to reshape rules ranging from corporate due diligence to data protection. Is this a welcome simplification, or a quiet rollback of hard-won standards? Join experts from academia, public administration, and civil society as they unpack the politics behind ‘cutting red tape’. In a roundtable discussion, we will examine what’s really at stake, and who pays the price, as Brussels redraws the line between competitiveness and sustainability.
The first term of the Von der Leyen Commission was defined by the green transition. Her second term as Commission President has shifted the focus to competitiveness. As part of this shift, the Commission has proposed a wide range of new laws aimed at ‘cutting red tape’.
Many of the rules being simplified touch on green and human rights issues: from corporate due diligence on environmental and human rights standards, to rules on pesticides and data protection. This fits a broader pattern: EU policy priorities are moving away from sustainability and toward competitiveness.
Most business groups welcome this shift. But civil society critics question whether it will actually work, and warn of social and environmental costs. This raises hard questions: Where’s the line between simplification and deregulation? Does boosting the EU’s competitiveness mean giving up on the green transition? And who bears the costs of this regulatory overhaul, at both the EU and national level?
This event brings together experts from academia, public administration, and civil society to discuss the politics of cutting red tape. It is part of the lecture series ‘The Future of the EU Regulatory State’, organised by the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES).
Speakers
Nina Holland works with Corporate Europe Observatory, a research and campaign group based in Brussels that aims to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making. CEO’s work aims to expose corporate lobbying tactics, financial firepower, privileged access and connections, and supports social movements in opposing the current deregulation wave hitting EU politics. Her focus is on lobbying by agribusiness corporations. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from Utrecht University.
Yannick van den Berg is Assistant Professor at Utrecht University. His work primarily focuses on the intersection of EU law, sustainability, and private law. He wrote his thesis ‘Indultion in Paradise? EU law and policy of holiday air travel through the lens of practice theory’ at the University of Amsterdam and has been involved in the Horizon Europe project GreenPaths, investigating the ways in which European transition policy can be made green and fair. He studied the Research-Master of Law and the Bachelors of Law and Philosophy at the University of Groningen.
Henk Griffioen is a senior staff member at the Advisory Board on Regulatory Burden in the Netherlands (ATR, after the Dutch title). Besides the regular work in scrutinising national legislation, he is responsible for EU-level cooperation within the network RegWatchEurope, which inter alia issues Opinions on topics of Better Regulation to the European Commission. He also coordinates the new mandate that ATR has regarding EU proposals, the goal of which is to gain a better understanding of the regulatory burdens that EU proposals imply for Dutch companies, civil society organisations, and citizens. He studied law and philosophy in Leiden and Brussels, and was a researcher at Leiden University, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) and the Dutch Court of Auditors.
Marta Morvillo (moderator) is Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research lies at the interface of EU law, expert governance, and legal mobilisation and seeks to understand how law can contribute to reconciling technical and democratic sources of legitimacy in societally salient policy fields such as economic governance and risk regulation.
Co-funded by the European Union
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
