03 October 2013

欧州委員会ジョゼ・マヌエル・バローゾ委員長、EU（欧州連合）から権限を奪還するとの英キャメロン首相の主張は不可能と主張

In an interview with the Telegraph and the German Tagesschau, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the only way to reform the EU was to review the EU’s body of legislation, the acquis, on a case-by-case basis. However, he warned David Cameron that his strategy to claw back competences from the EU would fail. "We have won allies to get powers back from Europe", the Prime Minister had stated on the last day of the Conservative Party conference.

The Commission president said that "there will be others, many, who oppose" Mr Cameron's call for treaty change to reduce EU powers and that other European leaders would simply veto British proposals that must be agreed unanimously between all 28 Member States. "Britain wants again to consider the option of opting out. Fine, let's discuss it but to put into question the whole acquis of Europe is not very reasonable", he said. 

Unveiling plans to scrap EU red tape, Barroso insisted that the Commission had reduced the regulatory burden for businesses by 26 per cent between 2007 and 2012, with an economic saving of £27 billion a year. The 2 October press release "REFIT - Fit for growth" - refers back to Barroso's State of the Union address in September, when he stressed the importance of smart regulation and declared that the European Union needed to be "big on big things and smaller on small things". 

The Times reports that the European Commission highlighted the planned health and safety directive for hairdressers in a long list of impending and existing diktats to be scrapped in response to criticism that the European Union stifles its members with red tape. Barroso said: "I strongly believe the EU should not meddle in everything that happens in Europe. Let's think twice whether, when and where we need to act at European level."

Business Minister Michael Fallon welcomed the review, reported the Telegraph, and claimed it was a victory for Cameron's European policy. However, he suggested the Commission's plans were insufficient. "We want these measures to be the beginning of a far more ambitious drive to eliminate barriers to growth and build a more competitive EU", he said.