37. UTREDNING OM PROBLEM (EU-kostnader)

VILJAN ATT BERÄTTA OM EU-EKONOMIN

Redan i februari 2009 analyserade OpenEurope EU-lagstiftningens inverkan på Englands ekonomi med rubriken ”Kontrollen gått förlorad? Ett decennium av EU-lagstiftning”

I utredningen på ca 78 sidor kan man läsa att:
1. Såväl mängden av lagstiftning som kostnaderna föranledda av dem stiger hela tiden.
2. Antalet lagar har gått upp i raketfart, från 10.800 1998 till 26.500 2008.

3. Årliga kostnader för England har i samma takt gått upp från 16,6 biljoner (10 pund är drygt 11 euro) 2005 till 28,7 biljoner 2008 (dvs. en ökning på 74%).

4. Med sådana summor kunde England låta bli beskatta sitt folk under ett års tid eller alternativt avkorta statsskulden med 24%.

Den här takten betyder att kostnaderna för hela EU år 2018 blir 3,017 triljoner, vilket betyder över 15.000 euro per varje EU-hushåll. Liknande analyser håller man på med i Frankrike och Tyskland. Och det är klart att vi har motsvarande kostnader fast man liksom inte får säga det högt! Och så pratar våra politiker om minskning av byråkrati och offentlig sektor?

Sedan fick vi nyligen av europarlamentariker Carl Haglund veta att EU vill ”sätta grekerna på plats” och att de grekiska myndigheterna har förskönat de ekonomiska siffrorna och har åtminstone sedan 1997 fört unionen bakom ljuset, Greklands statsskuld förväntas klättra upp till 125 procent av BNP detta år samt att Grekland är långt ifrån det enda landet som brutit mot pakten och att kasta ut Grekland ur eurosamarbetet ter sig inte heller som ett attraktivt alternativ för någon.

Hagmans sätt att måla upp en EU som lyckas styra med hård hand övertygar inte kritikerna eftersom:

1. Europeiska centralbanken (ECB) håller på att febrilt analysera hur allt i juridisk menig skall lösas om/när ett eller flera länder lämnar valutaunionen (euron) och/eller EU. ECB behöver således inte ”kasta ut” några länder.

2. Det är flera länder som kämpar med sin statsskuld och skuldsättningsgrad på över 100% av BNP är ingen raritet mera.

3. Och finska finansministeriets chef uttalade sig nyligen om läget med uttrycket ”Finland ligger i djupt träsk”.

4. Och hur mycket och hur länge har inte EU själv fört sina medlemsländers befolkningar bakom ljuset med alla bedrägerier och oegentligheter! Inte berättar man öppet heller att EU-presidenten kostar oss skattebetalare 300-400 miljoner i form av lön, säkerhetsarrangemang, stab, kontorsbyggnad osv. Eller slagsmålet om EU- parlamentarikernas lönehöjning samtidigt när t.ex. Finlands regering(ar) ber det finska folket nöja sig med mindre i lön och pension!

Hej Carl Haglund, berätta oss hur det framskrider med EU-beskattningen, det där som man inte får kalla beskattning men som ändå blir det 2014? Vet du något om det? Eller skall det också lättsamt beskrivas som stafettkarneval?



DET HÄR ÄR SAMMANFATTANDE AVSNITT UR OPEN EUROPES UTREDNING OM HUR EU BELASTAR SINA MEDLEMSLÄNDER MED SIN LAGSTIFTNING (Jag kommer småningom att översätta åtminstone delar av dessa axplock):

Out of control? Measuring a decade of EU regulation February 2009 By Mats Persson with Stephen Booth & Sarah Gaskell Edited by Lorraine Mullally

KEY FINDINGS:

Both the number and cost of regulations are going up all the time

• Over the past decade, the number of laws produced in both Whitehall and Brussels has skyrocketed. The number of legal acts in force in the EU has gone from 10,800 in 1998, to over 26,500 in 2008.
• However, while the number of regulations adopted each year is a useful indicator of trends, a far more meaningful assessment of the burden of regulation is the relative cost of those regulations to the economy.
• Since the UK launched its ‘Regulatory Reform Agenda’ in 2005, the annual cost of regulation has gone from £16.5 billion in 2005 to £28.7 billion in 2008 — an enormous increase of 74%.

Since the UK launched its ‘Regulatory Reform Agenda’ in 2005, the annual cost of regulation has gone from £16.5 billion in 2005 to £28.7 billion in 2008— an enormous increase of 74%

• Meanwhile, the estimated cumulative cost of regulations introduced in the UK between 1998 and 2008 is £148.2 billion. This is the equivalent of 10% of GDR1
• For the same amount, the UK Government could abolish income tax for one year2 or cut the national debt by 24%. EU legislation is responsible for 72% of the cost of regulations in the UK
• Of the cumulative cost of regulations introduced over the past decade, £106.6 billion, or 71.9%, had its origin in the EU. Similarly, the EU proportion of the average annual cost of regulations is 71.6%. of the cumulative cost of regulations introduced over the past decade, £106.6 billion, or 71.9%, had its origin in the EU
• Overall, the cost of EU legislation has gone up steadily year-on-year over the past decade. ln 2008 alone, EU legislation dating from 1998 cost the UK economy £18.5 billion — up from £12.2 billion in 2005.
• Taking the cumulative cost estimates, EU legislation since 1998 has cost the UK 23% more than the UK’s total gross contributions to the EU budget over the period 1998-2008.

1 Caiculated assuming that UK GDP in 2008 was E1,461,301,000,000, see Eurostat
http:llepp.eurostat.ec.europa.eulportal/page?_pageid=0,1 1361 73,0_45570701 &_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
2 According to the Treasury’s Latest Public Finances Databank (December 2008), income tax amounted to £151.9 billion in 07108, see http:Ilwww.hm-treasury.gov.uk!psf_statistics.htm
3 According to ONS figures, March 2008, UK national debt was £614,400,000,000, see
http:Ilwww.statistics.gov.uklccilnugget.asp?ID=277
4 According to the Treasury, the UK’s gross contributions to the EU budget 1998-2008 were £86.34 billion, see http:Ilwww.hm-treasury.gov.uklint_eu_statefraud.htm

At the current rate EU legislation will cost the UKE356 billion by 2018

• If the current flow of regulation continues, by 2018, the cost of EU legislation introduced since 1998 will have risen to more than £356 billion.5 This is around f 14,300 per British household.6 For the same amount, the UK Government could pay off almost 60% of the national debt7, or abolish incometaxfor2yearsand still leave theTreasury with a surplus.8
EU labour market Iaws alone account for 21% of the total cost of UK regulations
• Labour market legislation introduced over the past ten years has cost the UK economy £45 billion. 69% of this —£31 billion — came from the EU. This means that 21% of the overall cost of new regulations introduced in the UK between 1998 and 2008 can be sourced to the EU’s labour market laws alone. For this amount, the UK Government could cut corporation tax by two-thirds.9
Meanwhile, EU health and safety legislation coming into force in the last decade has cost the UK £5.7 billion.
EU agricultural regulations have cost British farmers over £2 billion, and the EU food labelling requirements have cost the UK £1.7 billion over the last ten years.
BERR is the UK’S ‘regulation factory’, with 73% of its annual cost of regulation coming from the EU
• Among UK Government departments, BERR (formerly the DTI) is the main facilitator of regulation in the UK. If the UK has a ‘regulation factory’, this is it. ln 2008 alone, the department accounted for regulatory costs to the economy of £12.8 billion — 45% of the total cost of regulation in that year. This was roughly £4 billion more than in 2007— or a 45% increase.
• Over the past ten years, 72.7% of the average annual cost of the regulation imposed by BERR stemmed from Brussels. ln 2008, the cost from EU regulation administered through BERR was £5.9 billion. This is enough to cut the rate of corporation tax by an average of 13%.10
• ln 2008, a staggering £9 billion of the cost of regulations coming from BERR arose from labour market regulations, of which £3.6 billion came from the EU. ln tum, £2.1 billion of this was due to one single regulation —the EU’s infamous 1999 Working Time Directive.

EU regulation accounts for more than 90% of the total cost of regulations from some Whitehall departments

• Meanwhile, EU regulations account for 98.8% of the cumulative cost of regulations coming from the FSA, 96.5% of those coming from the Ministry of Justice, 94.2% of regulations from DEFRA, and 94.3% from the HSE.
EU regulations cost the EU €1.4 trillion
• The cumulative cost of regulation introduced between 1998 and 2008 for all 27 EU member states is €1.4 trillion. Of this, 66%, or €928 billion, is EU-sourced.
• If current trends continue, by 2018, the cost of EU regulation introduced since 1998 will have risen to more than €3.017 trillion. This is over €1 5,000 per household in the EU.
• Since the Commission launched its ‘Better Regulation Agenda’ in 2005, the annual cost of EU legislation across the bbc has gone from €108 billion to over €161 billion — an increase of 50%.
5 The figure is the Present Value of the cost, caiculated using the discount rate of 3.5 per Cent specified in the Treasury Green Book, see http:llgreenbook.treasury.gov.ukfchaptero5.htm#discounting
6 Based on ONS’s es-timate of the number of UK househoids at 24.9 million in 2006, see http:Ilwww.statistics.gov.uklcci/nugget.asp?id=1 866
7 According to ONS figures, March 2008, UK national debt was E614,400,000,000, see
http:Ilwww.statistics.gov.uklcci/nugget.asp?ID=277
8 According to the Treasury’s Latest Public Finances Databank (December 2008), income tax amounted to £151.9 billion in 07108, see http:IANww.hm-treasury.gov.uklpsf_statistics.htm
9 According to the Treasury’s Latest Public Finances Databank (December 2008), corporation tax receipts were £46.4 billion in 07108, see http:IANww.hm-treasury.gov.uklpsf_statistics.htm
10 According to the Treasury’s Latest Public Finances Databank (December 2008), corporation tax receipts were £46.4 billion in 07108, see http:IAwww.hm-treasury.gov.uklpsf_statistics.htm http:/vww.hm-treasury.gov.ukIpsf_statistics.htm

• In 2008 alone the cost of regulation for the EU27 was €269.5 billion. This is up from €229.6 billion in 2007 and €183.4 billion in 2006.
• The cumulative cost to Germany of regulation introduced since 1998 is a staggering €280 billion. Of this amount, €184 billion (66%) is sourced to EU legislation — which is the equivalent of over 7% of the country’s GDR11
• In France the cost was €211 billion, of which almost €144 billion — 68% — came from the EU.

The Government’s claims to have cut the cost of regulation do not stack up — the Government must focus much more of its efforts on the EU level

• There is a clear mismatch between our findings and the Government’s claims to have cut down the administrative cost and burden of regulations in the last few years.12 ln December 2008, for example, the Government said that the administrative burden had been cut by £1.9 billion compared to the 2005 baseline measure.13
• It seems unlikely that the net administrative cost of regulations could be falling, while the overall cost of regulation — as captured by our figures — is increasing 50 markedly. Especially given that both sets of findings are based on the Government’s own figures.
• The UK’s reform agenda is ambitious. However, because of the large proportion of regulation stemming from the EU, the UK is losing control of it. For example, the new idea for departmental regulatory budgets is a good one, but since the regulatory costs stemming from some departments are so heavily driven by EU legislation, it is difficult to imagine how ministers will be able to control the budgets in practice. With EU regulations accounting for around 72% of the annual average cost of UK regulations, the Government effectively has control of less than 30% of the annual cost of regulation.

UK ministers sometimes sign off on EU proposals despite the lmpact Assessment showing the costs outweighing the benefits

• ln 2007 the Minister of Transport Stephen Ladyman, for instance, approved an lmpact Assessment which showed that the estimated costs of an EU Directive were £400 million a year while the benefits were £18.5 million a year. This encapsulates the UK Government’s weak approach to negotiations on EU legislation.


The EU’s attempts to cut regu!ation are para!ysed by too much tinkering at the margins

• Over the years the Commission’s commitment to ‘better regulation’ has resulted in very few tangible benefits. Despite noble efforts by a handful of reform-minded Commissioners such as Gunther Verheugen, regulatory reform in the EU is still paralysed by far too much tinkering at the margins. Meanwhile, the flow of regulations coming from the EU is quietly skyrocketing.
• The Commission’s system of impact assessments results in sporadic, and poorly formulated assessments which are of negligible use in the policy-making process. We have found onlythree cases where a Commission proposal has been dropped as a result of an impact assessment — compared to the 10,800 acts that have been adopted in the EU since the introduction of EIA5 in 2003.
— The Commission’s lmpact Assessment Board lacks the autonomy and the teeth to stem the flow of new regulations, while the European Parliament has proven more of a driver of over-interference than an independent watchdog.
11 Based on Eurostat’s projections in 2008 of German GDP of €2,513,199,000,000.
12 HM Government, ‘Delivering simplification plans: a summary”, 11 December 2007, p. 7
13 HM GovernmentlBetterRegulation Executive, “Making your life simpler: simplification plans—a summary”, December
2008, p. 25

Reform is possible — but a radical new approach is needed

• There have been some genuine attempts at reform, but the UK’s current agenda is simply failing to curb the increasing flow of new regulations impacting on business and the wider economy. Without a more radical attempt to stem the flow, the cost of regulations will continue to rise year on year.
• The fact that a very high proportion of the total cost of regulation is coming from regulations negotiated not at Whitehall and Westminster but in Brussels and Strasbourg, shows that any reform agenda which does not focus primarily on curbing the flow of EU regulations will continue to fail.
Without a more radical attempt to stem the flow, the cost of regulations will continue to rise year on year
• Reform requires a whole new approach from both the UK Government and the EU Commission.
• Most importantly, policymakers need to fundamentally change their mentality and understand that state interference — at UK or EU level — can only be justified with conclusive evidence that the benefits of any such i nterference outweigh properly quantified costs.
• Specifically, the UK Government must turn both its lmpact Assessments and its regulatory budgets into bargaining tools at the EU level. For example, the UK’s opt-out from the EU’s Working Time Directive — under negotiation at the time of writing — is a clear case of where the Government should produce a robust lA, and take it to Brussels, arguing that it simply cannot accept proposals for which there is little support at home, and for which the estimated costs are so high. A similar strategy could have been pursued with the Agency Workers Directive. Such warnings, when based on robust evidence, will strengthen the UK’s negotiation position enormously.
The Government should introduce EU Commission style audit trails to help businesses keep up. There also needs to be real-time scrutiny of EU proposals at Westminster, with a bolstered new committee system which takes proper account of the fact that 72% of the cost of legislation is now EU-derived.

The UK Government must turn both its lmpact Assessments and its regulatory budgets into bargaining tools at the EU level

• The UK Government is in a strong position to draw up a new approach which leads to a radical reduction in new legislation. The Government should use its influence over EU budget negotiations to lever in concrete new measures to stop regulation — including a proposal to allow national parliaments to veto unnecessary laws.
• The UK Government must push hard for a new commitment among its EU partners to the idea of less regulation. The EU should introduce an independent and powerful European lmpact Assessment Board capable of stopping proposals which have not been properly quantified; a simple majority in the Council for scrapping proposals, and ‘€1 in, €1 out’ regulatory budgets in the Commission.

The UK Government must push hard for a new commitment among its EU partners to the idea of less regulation