Parliamentary question - E-4922/2006Parliamentary question
E-4922/2006

Verheugen — Excessive EU regulation

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4922/06
by Roger Helmer (NI)
to the Commission

Is the Commission aware of the recent estimate by Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen that the cost of excessive and onerous EU regulation to economies across the EU amounts to EUR 600 billion?

Does the Commission recall its own estimates that the supposed benefit of the EU's single market, in trade terms, is between EUR 160 and EUR 180 billion a year?

Does the Commission agree that the costs of the single market are therefore three or four times greater than any conceivable benefit?

How would the Commission respond to those critics who argue that the EU costs more than it is worth, and is making us all poorer than we would otherwise be?

OJ C 329, 30/12/2006