Vice President of the government, Kostis Hatzidakis, will travel to Brussels today, Monday, September 21, in order to participate in the conference on the creation of the “Alliance for the Reduction of Bureaucracy at member state level”.The conference is organized on the initiative of the Austrian government. Its aim is to strengthen cooperation among member states for the simplification of legislation and the reduction of administrative burdens and bureaucracy faced by citizens, businesses, and public services.
According to the invitation, the presence of the Greek vice president is more broadly linked to the reform work he has promoted in different government portfolios. This includes, among other things, the law “For a state more friendly to citizens” and the acceleration of the pension award process. Mr. Hatzidakis will speak about the Greek experience from the implementation of these reforms.
The European Union Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification, Valdis Dombrovskis, will participate in the conference.
Among the political participants are also the vice president of the Belgian government and Minister of Finance and Budget, Vincent Van Peteghem, the Italian Minister for Institutional Reforms and Regulatory Simplification, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, and the German Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Gunther Krichbaum. In total, 16 member states of the European Union are expected to be represented.
During the meeting, a joint declaration is to be adopted, providing for simpler and higher-quality legislation, avoidance of adding unnecessary national requirements during the transposition of European directives, systematic impact assessments, and regular review of existing rules.
Particular emphasis is placed on the principle of “simplicity by design”, so that simplicity is taken into account already from the drafting of every new regulation, as well as on the principle of “once only”, according to which citizens and businesses should not have to submit the same information and supporting documents to public services more than once.
The Alliance will operate as an informal and flexible cooperation network, with the exchange of best practices, an annual political meeting, the designation of a single point of contact in each member state, and joint dialogue with the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the OECD.