If red tape could be said to have a spiritual home, it would be the corridors of the European Commission in Brussels. The beating heart of the “regulatory superpower” that is the EU, it is there that the rules which guide how business is done in the 27 member states are made. The EU produced nearly 14,000 legal acts between 2019 and 2024. Perhaps not coincidentally the bloc’s economy has stalled. Bosses gripe about spending more time filling forms than filing patents. A plan to lessen their burden is expected to be released on February 26th. Hopes for radical deregulation, however, will have to wait.
