EC President Calls for Deep EU Regulatory Housecleaning

Speaking at a European Parliament plenary debate on reviving EU competitiveness, von der Leyen said the European Union must continue to slash bureaucratic costs for companies and that EU member states must reduce the extra layers of national legislation and harmonize their rules with those of other member states.

Offering examples of the challenges faced by companies operating in the EU, von der Leyen said that member states have different rules about the maximum weight of trucks and that some states only accept correspondence via fax.

“European companies tell us they spend almost as much on bureaucracy as on research and development,” von der Leyen said. “This cannot be. We have made simplification a core focus.”

In her speech, von der Leyen also said the European Union must open new markets to support production in Europe, lower interstate barriers to trade within the EU, create a single capital market within the EU, and reduce and stabilize energy prices.

“This is the moment for unity and for urgency,” von der Leyen said. “This is how we make Europe move faster — and this is how we make Europe stronger.”

The EU released a plan in November 2025 to ease digital regulations, with the project centering around a “digital omnibus” that streamlines rules on artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and data.

The European Commission said at the time that the plan would also be coupled with what it calls a Data Union Strategy to unlock high-quality data for AI and European Business Wallets that will provide companies with a single digital identity to simplify paperwork and make it easier to do business in EU countries.

It was reported in April 2025 that the European Central Bank (ECB) created a task force to simplify Europe’s banking rules. While the ECB has no authority to change rules, which are set by the European Union, the task force’s recommendations would need to be considered by lawmakers.

Earlier in the year, the central bank governors from Germany, France, Italy and Spain wrote a letter to European Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque calling for the simplification of “unduly complex” European banking rules.