Combating bureaucracy

Public bodies to become “test laboratories”

Christian Helmenstein wants to test new regulations in public bodies first.(Bild: IV OÖ/Roland Pelzl, stock.adobe.com)

The call for a reduction in bureaucracy is loud - but apparently it is not being heard: companies are constantly confronted with new rules, regulations and laws. The President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, Doris Hummer, therefore wants a separate authority to combat bureaucracy, while the economist from the Federation of Austrian Industries proposes a "public first" principle.

"Bureaucracy is like a weed in the garden. No matter how much you pull out, it grows back on its own. That's why you need a system that has the task of counteracting it."

"Think every day about what laws we no longer need"
With these words, Doris Hummer, President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, underpinned her call for an independent authority "that does nothing other than consider every day what laws and regulations we no longer need".

Christian Helmenstein, Chief Economist of the Federation of Austrian Industries, also criticized "the massive over-bureaucratization" in Europe. "We are at a point where homeopathic adjustments are not enough. We need a completely new approach." What should it look like? Helmenstein uses the term "public first".

"Should show that it can be lived without shutting down land"
What does he mean by that? "Those who are responsible for this breathtaking level of overregulation should show that they can live with it without shutting down the country." New regulations should therefore first be implemented in public bodies for one or two years: "If they are then still found to be good, they will be rolled out to the corporate sector."