Reduce bureaucracy, restart the economic engine

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann was a guest at the Handwerk.NRW Epiphany gathering. His keynote speech focused on reducing bureaucracy and building trust in responsible entrepreneurship.

This article is part of the special topic Bureaucratic madness in the craft industry

"Never before have the time and costs incurred by new laws year after year been as high as they are today." The President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Chamber of Crafts Andreas Ehlert presented at the Epiphany meeting of Crafts.NRW the "Mega-topic" bureaucracy The appropriate contact for this was the Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), this year's keynote speaker. The bureaucratic burden keep rising. In addition to economic losses for the companies also psychological consequences for the entrepreneurs. Ehlert called this "psychological discouragement of the middle class"This is not just a warning signal, but a wake-up call.

He always demanded that regulatory projects to think first of small and medium-sized enterprises and to examine whether the planned measures are feasible for them. "Otherwise, the progressive regulation will lead to the displacement of these companies." A negative example and a "concrete danger" are the Supply chain due diligence"Relieving is better than supporting" should be the principle. Subsidies are well-intentioned, but often expensive, complicated and unfair. "Reducing taxes and bureaucracy is beneficial every company", says Ehlert.

Getting the economic engine running again

The minister admitted that it is difficult to abandon rules once they have been introduced. "Nevertheless, we are doing it and we have to do it," Buschmann said. His impression is that both businesses and citizens are becoming increasingly stressed because of the many rules and requirements they have to comply with. very exhausted This leads to them can hardly concentrate on their core businessIn the current economic situation with its many uncertainties and upheavals, this is particularly serious. "If we want the economic engine in this country to restart, then we must Effectively reduce bureaucracy, and there's no way around it."

The relief is desperately needed to Trust in the rule of law Buschmann referred to the project in Meseberg by the Federal government decided Debureaucratization package and the associated Growth Opportunities Act, which is still being negotiated in the Federal Council, and which also contains Bureaucracy Reduction Act IV, for which the draft prepared by Bushman's ministry is now available. He also announced that Accounting obligations for medium-sized companies facilitate and the thresholds are increased. "This single measure alone will reduce compliance costs of €650 million for 52.000 companies."

Relief also at European level

However, all these relief measures are only a first step towards simplifying German legislation. According to Buschmann, however, 57 percent of the bureaucratic compliance costs arising from the European level Together with France, Germany intends to ensure that the the European Commission also introduces relief measures. One suggestion is a "Bureaucracy TÜV" at European level, with which the Impact assessment of laws should be improved.

Busch concluded by promoting more trust in the "individual sense of responsibility" of entrepreneursThe many detailed laws and regulations are an expression of Distrust of the state towards the self-employed. "You don't have to regulate every little detail in detail in the law." More trust is the best basis for preventing bureaucracy from building up in the first place and simplifying legislation.

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