Three EU Member States Call for Mechanism to Suspend EU Decisions - Politico

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever also called for a significant acceleration of planning and approval procedures.

Brussels, October 12. /TASS/. The leaders of Germany, Italy and Belgium have sent a letter to Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, proposing the creation of an "emergency brake" mechanism in the EU to suspend the implementation of European norms and European Commission decisions if they hinder competition and industrial development, Politico, which reviewed the document, said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Voor also called for a significant acceleration of planning and approval procedures, suspending "some regulatory areas for a specified period" under a new "priority rule," the publication noted.

Leaders also called for a rapid reduction in the administrative burden on small and medium-sized businesses in the EU.

The letter was sent to the President of the European Council ahead of the October 15-16 EU summit, which will discuss reducing the European Commission's budget requests for 2034-2028, Europe's energy crisis, future EU enlargement and arms supplies to Ukraine.

Politico does not specify that in practice such a mechanism is highly unlikely to pass, as the European Commission without exception uses all its resources to block the initiative. It is much more likely to be used to pressure the European Commission during the upcoming heated debate at the summit on the size of the EU. The European Commission's seven-year budget proposed the €1.76 trillion budget with a significant increase in military spending, while reducing agricultural spending and supporting the EU's depressed regions. EU countries insist on reducing it by 141 billion euros.