Gunnar Schupelius: On My Anger - Administration takes on red tape and establishes fresh policies.
The government has sent the "Draft of a fourth law to ease the burden of bureaucracy" to the Bundestag and Bundesrat for discussion (printed matter 20/11306). The announcement promises that with the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act (BEG IV), the economy will see a reduction of 944 million euros annually.
Prior to BEG IV, there were already three other bureaucracy relief acts passed between 2016 and 2019. These had a noticeable impact. The example of the hotel industry is often brought up: accommodation providers no longer had to manually fill out registration forms at check-in, but were allowed to register digitally. This was due to the Third Bureaucracy Relief Act. As a result, the hospitality sector in Germany saved a total of 52 million euros in annual costs.
Before BEG IV, citizens and companies were still being relieved by the first three bureaucracy relief laws, but the federal government was already creating new bureaucracy. New environmental regulations, building regulations, and the Supply Chain Act have placed a massive burden on the economy.
The federal government is trying to reduce the bureaucracy they created themselves, while simultaneously creating more bureaucracy, with the saying, "one step forward, two steps back." This has been happening for a long time.
Nineteen years ago, there was even a Minister of State for Bureaucracy Reduction in the Federal Chancellery. Her name was Hildegard Müller, appointed by then-Chancellor Merkel (CDU). She only remained in office for one year. It's unclear how much bureaucracy she managed to reduce during this time.
Meanwhile, the country is suffering under an avalanche of regulations, and the government is struggling in vain to combat them. The "Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (New Social Market Economy Initiative) has opened a "Bureaucracy Museum" at Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin (until June 25, Georgenstrasse 22). Here, examples of bureaucratic excesses are displayed humorously. Some examples include the need for 150 (!) permits to build a single wind turbine.
The federal government consumes so much paper for forms that 52 trees have to be felled every day. The number of federal laws has risen to an all-time high of 1,800, with another 50,000 individual standards.
The consequences of this overwhelming bureaucracy have been documented in surveys: 42.9% of Germans are angry, 25% feel powerless, and 60% of companies want to forgo further investments due to bureaucratic obstacles.
Bureaucracy is not a natural occurrence; it's politically motivated. Parties, especially those on the left, want to tell people how to live and give them as little personal responsibility as possible. This needs to stop, and then the fog of bureaucracy will lift.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Send your thoughts to: [email protected]
(Read all of Gunnar Schupelius' columns here)
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Source: symclub.org
