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Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has spoken out against the European deregulation push being led by Germany and Italy and embraced by the European Commission.
“Some will say that to compete, you must deregulate. Those who say that are often the very same people who left the world into the financial crisis with that same regime,” Sánchez told an event organised on Tuesday by his Socialist political colleagues at the European Parliament.
“This is not about having more or fewer laws or rules. This is about having good rules and good laws,” he said via videocall.
The Spanish prime minister’s intervention was the most awaited and the most loudly applauded by the Socialist MEPs and staff gathered at the Dialogue on a Progressive European Future, a reflection on the Socialists’ political priorities that also featured contributions from Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera, President of the European Committee of the Regions Kata Tüttő and US Senator Bernie Sanders.
His remarks put him at odds with the current attempt to boost competitiveness by streamlining and simplifying EU laws.
In the last two years, the Commission has put forward a simplification and competitiveness agenda composed of ten “omnibus” packages. The aim is to simplify EU legislation in different sectors to lighten the economic burden on companies.
According to the Commission, this deregulation push has already produced a €15 billion administrative cost reduction for businesses across Europe, with a goal of €37.5 billion by 2029. Critics say this has often come at the expense of environmental and social standards, particularly in the case of a package to ease corporate sustainability reporting approved in 2025.
Several EU countries are backing the Commission’s strategy, even asking for further efforts, with Germany, Italy, and the Nordic countries throwing their weight behind that “simplification” agenda.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in particular has been very vocal on the need to reduce EU bureaucracy. Since the beginning of last year, he has advocated for the the principle of “one in, two out”, meaning that for every new regulation adopted at EU level, two existing ones should be abolished.
On Tuesday, Sánchez insisted that European rules must “encourage competitiveness without neglecting social protection”, claiming his country “is proving that we can boost economic growth while reducing inequality […] that we lead the green transition without losing competitiveness”.
This week’s event saw Socialist lawmakers and thinkiers touting a “strategic turn”, claiming that Europe needs a new policy orientation based on six pillars: affordable housing, affordable high-quality food, quality jobs, clean energy, a genuine defence union, and more taxes and control for big tech.
The progressive political family is trying to turn things around at a point where Europe appears to be turning to the right.
Three left-leaning prime ministers are still in office in the EU: both Sánchez and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen are running coalition minority governments, while Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela enjoys a slim majority in his country’s parliament.