EU leaders push for new rules to cut red tape and boost industry competitiveness

In a joint letter, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni and Bart De Wever called on European Council President António Costa and the European Commission to streamline approval processes and reduce administrative burdens, especially for SMEs. They suggested a temporary priority rule that could pause certain regulatory areas and proposed an emergency mechanism to give member states more say in EU lawmaking. The proposal does not detail how the mechanism would function or who could trigger it.