TAE: EU bureaucracy is at least as harmful as excessive tariffs!
The European Taxpayers’ Association views current developments with great concern. Businesses continue to suffer from excessive EU bureaucracy, which appears to have lost none of its momentum under the new von der Leyen II Commission. Added to this is the EU’s trade agreement with the US, which, whilst representing damage limitation compared to the tariffs announced by Trump, will nevertheless place a massive burden on our economy and consumers.
The European Taxpayers’ Association views both developments with great concern.
On the EU customs agreement with the US
On 27 July, the EU and the US reached an agreement in the tariff dispute. This provides for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU exports to the US, which also applies to vehicles, vehicle parts, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products. However, tariffs on aluminium and steel are expected to remain unchanged at 50 per cent. Certain so-called ‘strategic goods’ such as aircraft, semiconductor equipment, chemicals, generic medicines, agricultural products, raw materials and critical raw materials are exempt from tariffs on both sides.
Furthermore, under the agreement, the EU is to purchase energy worth US$750 billion from the US, make additional investments of US$600 billion in the US, and acquire US military equipment to an as yet unspecified value. However, a legally binding document has not yet been finalised.
The European Taxpayers’ Association is dismayed by the enormous financial commitments: €1.35 trillion for energy purchases and direct investments, plus as yet unknown expenditure on the purchase of US military equipment. The reason for this is that the European Commission itself lacks the funds. These funds must therefore be provided either by the Member States or by the private sector. Commission President von der Leyen may have miscalculated in this regard. Resistance is also emerging from Member States such as France. The agreement is therefore not yet final.
The media recently reported that President Trump is postponing the start of the tariffs by a week. Without further assessing the tariff agreement, it must be noted that under Trump nothing really seems predictable or certain. This behaviour is extremely worrying for businesses. They need predictability and reliability to be able to adapt to new circumstances. They must be able to trust that political agreements will stand and not be constantly thrown out the window.
The higher tariffs under Trump will therefore come. It is also clear that we in Europe will not be spared. Higher tariffs mean higher costs; they affect prices and thus also inflation.
That is why it is now important to take the ability-to-pay principle into account. We must ensure that the burden on both consumers and businesses remains moderate. Therefore, everything must be done at national and, in particular, at European level to mitigate these increased burdens. Comprehensive relief measures are needed, ranging from special depreciation allowances and tax cuts for businesses to tax cuts for private individuals. After all, all business investments must first be generated. And consumers must be put in a position to be able to pay higher prices in the first place. This is important, as vulnerable groups will be particularly hard hit by higher prices. Redistribution and state subsidies are not a suitable solution for sustainable development.
The EU’s goal must therefore be to do everything in its power to secure prosperity in Europe. The key lies in sustainable economic growth. To this end, the EU must create the right framework conditions for growth. There has been much talk about this, but now is the time to act!
Cut red tape now!
One key to improving the framework conditions, which the EU itself has in its hands, is the reduction of bureaucracy and the removal of trade barriers.
Trade barriers have a similarly harmful effect to tariffs. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) study entitled “Europe’s Integration Imperative” from June 2025 comes to the following conclusion:
“The EU has made significant progress in liberalising trade between its Member States, yet numerous obstacles remain. According to an IMF study (2024), high trade barriers within Europe account for 44 per cent of the value cost of manufactured goods and 110 per cent of that of services. These costs are borne by EU consumers and businesses in the form of reduced competition, higher prices and lower productivity.”
Excessive bureaucracy creates trade barriers between EU countries, such as tariffs of 44 per cent on goods and as much as 110 per cent on services. This means that existing EU trade barriers are almost three times as burdensome as the 15 per cent US tariffs!
This is exactly where we should start. Every EU Commission has wanted to tackle this problem, but nothing concrete has happened. Quite the opposite!
According to the Draghi report, the European Commission adopted around 13,000 legislative acts between 2019 and 2024, almost four times as many as the US (3,500) during the same period. And this trend appears set to continue in 2025.
According to EUR-Lex, 1,364 EU legislative acts were adopted between January and the end of July 2025 alone! The Commission was involved in 934 of these and thus bears the lion’s share of the responsibility!
Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/statistics/2025/legislative-acts-statistics.html?locale=en#
The von der Leyen I and II EU Commissions had almost five and a half years to tame the bureaucratic monster. Instead, they kept feeding it. The sheer volume of legislation is paralysing and crushing the economy!
This has little to do with the promised reduction of EU bureaucracy. On the contrary, EU bureaucracy is turning into a high-speed train that is accelerating unstoppably. If we do not stop this, we are steering Europe at full speed into a wall.
Initiative to abolish EU bureaucracy
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Excessive bureaucracy jeopardises the success of the EU. The Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE) has therefore |
We call on the European Union to take concrete measures to reduce excessive bureaucracy. Excessive bureaucracy burdens businesses, slows down innovation and undermines citizens’ trust in the EU. We call for effective simplification of administrative procedures, more transparent regulations and increased use of digital solutions. Together, we can shape a more dynamic and efficient EU that better meets the needs of citizens and businesses.
This includes:
- Existing EU bureaucracy should be reduced by 20% for all citizens, both in terms of volume and complexity.
- For every new European regulation, its consequences and costs must be set out in a qualitative impact assessment.
- Any new regulation at European level must offer clear added value compared to national regulations.
- Every new regulation should be subject to an evaluation after two years, which must be completed within one year. If the evaluation reveals a negative deviation of more than 15% from the impact assessment, the regulation must be revised and resubmitted. It must be ensured that amending or repealing the regulation does not cause greater harm than retaining it.
- The Commission should appoint a Special Representative for Red Tape Reduction who reports specifically to EU citizens.
Brussels/Munich, 2 August 2025