Germany, Italy and Belgium Want to Block New EU Rules They Say Burden Business
In a joint letter to European Council President António Costa, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni and Bart De Wever demand a mechanism that can stop new EU legislation that imposes unreasonable burdens on businesses and public administration – but the letter says nothing about how the brake would actually work.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever have sent a joint letter to European Council President António Costa proposing a so-called "emergency brake" on EU legislation. According to Euronews, the letter was sent on Monday, and the outlet reports having seen it (Euronews). WAM and EUalive also cover the letter (WAM).
The timing is no accident: the European Council summit takes place on Thursday and Friday, 15–16 October, with competitiveness, energy prices, the EU's multiannual budget and support for Ukraine on the agenda (EUalive). The letter also arrives in the wake of a September initiative from eleven member states calling for a one-year pause in new legislative proposals.
What the leaders are asking for
According to EUalive's coverage, the letter has four main points:
- A halt mechanism: Member states should be able to block new EU regulations if governments judge that they impose unreasonable burdens on businesses or public administration.
- Faster planning and permitting: The three leaders want to accelerate planning and permitting procedures.
- A priority principle: A principle that would allow specific regulatory areas to be suspended temporarily.
- More simplification packages: "We call for further ambitious simplification packages to decisively accelerate the reduction of bureaucracy in the European Union," the leaders write, according to EUalive's rendering of the letter text.
The backdrop, according to Euronews, is a broader push to strengthen the bloc's economic competitiveness, with a mechanism that can stop new legislation deemed excessively burdensome for business.
The September initiative: eleven countries behind a "simplification year"
The emergency brake is not the first move from this camp. In September, eleven member states, including Poland, Germany and Italy, spoke in favour of a one-year pause in tabling new legislative proposals – a "simplification year" – in order to focus on implementing existing rules and assessing their effects, EUalive writes, citing Focus Europe Italy and FocusEurope Poland (EUalive).
It is worth noting what the sources actually say: the eleven countries spoke in favour of a pause – the sources do not document that the pause proposal was formally adopted. The letter from the three heads of government can thus be read as a continuation and escalation of the same line, now with a concrete mechanism proposal.
What no one knows yet: how would the brake work?
This is the letter's biggest open point, and the sources are clear on it: no details exist on how the emergency brake is to be designed. EUalive gives nothing on the mechanism's legal basis, voting rules, or how it would interact with the Commission, Council and Parliament – that is, the ordinary legislative process, which normally requires a proposal from the Commission, negotiation in Parliament and Council, and finally agreement between them.
A blocking mechanism for new legislation would in practice intervene in this balance between the institutions, but no concrete description of how that would happen is documented in the available sources. That means it is currently impossible to say whether the brake would require unanimity, a qualified majority or some other arrangement – or whether it could be introduced within the existing treaties at all.
Another limitation: all coverage is secondary. Euronews reports having seen the letter, but the letter text in full has not been published in the sources this article is based on. That means details about wording and any caveats cannot be independently verified.
What is at stake at the summit
At the summit on 15–16 October, heads of state and government will among other things address competitiveness, energy prices, the EU's multiannual budget and support for Ukraine (EUalive). The letter thus lands right before a meeting where competitiveness is already on the agenda – giving the proposal a natural entry ticket to the discussion.
However, it is not known whether the proposal has support beyond the three signatories. The sources say nothing about which other member states support or oppose the brake, nor how the Commission or Parliament will respond to the proposal. Both will be decisive: without support from more member states in the European Council, and without the Commission's involvement, such an initiative has limited practical effect – but as a signal from three large member states, including Germany, it is politically significant.
The key questions heading into and beyond the summit are therefore: Will the brake win support from more countries? And how will the Commission, which normally holds the sole right to propose legislation, and the Parliament, which would have to approve any change to the legislative process, react? For now, the answers are unknown.