by Jerome a Paris
Wed Oct 11th, 2006 at 04:26:45 AM EST
European parliament votes to tighten chemicals regulation
Industry has suffered a setback in its battle to water down the European Union's new chemicals regulation, after a European parliament committee yesterday voted to toughen up the draft law and impose more onerous rules on companies.
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This would set the parliament on a collision course not only with Europe's powerful chemicals industry, but also with EU member states, which backed a more industry-friendly version of the law last year.
As ManfromMiddletown notes, this is the way Europe exerts its influence over the whole planet, by creating standards that become de fact oworld standards because (i) companies would rather follow one set of rules and (ii) Europe's standards are tougher and thus ensure that products are acceptable everywhere else as well.
As can be seen from the FT article, business is furious at this decision by the European Parliament, which is significantly tougher than what the Commission propsoed and the European Council agreed to back in June.
If you want to understand what the power of the European Parliament is, click on the chart above(links to a detailed explanation of "codecision"), but the point to note is that the Parliament is more democratic, more sensitive to the preoccupations of consumers and citizens as opposed to big business, which increasingly has the ear of the Commission's politicla leadership, as demonstrated again by the tone of the FT article on REACH, and this article from yesterday:
Uphill battle against Brussels bureaucracy
The bureaucratic costs to business of complying with European legislation could be up to €600bn a year - almost twice original estimates - the European Union's enterprise commissioner admitted on Monday.
Günter Verheugen also acknowledged that his drive to simplify EU laws was falling behind schedule, and again blamed officials inside the bloc's Brussels-based executive for obstructing his campaign to streamline or scrap legislation.
Some senior European Commission officials had not adapted to "a new political culture" and still believed their job was to unite Europe through more regulations, Mr Verheugen told the Financial Times.
"There is a view that the more regulations you have, the more rules you have, the more Europe you have," he said. "I don't share that view."
The Barroso Commission is siding with business against the real Europeans in the Commission bureacracy and the European Parliament - those that are wielding Europ's soft power in ways that work and that are legitimate, either throught their competence or their more democratic nature.
