European Simplification: Less regulation is not enough. Europe needs better lawmaking and single laws for its Single Market

One Market, One Law!

Simplification has become a major priority in Brussels. And rightly so.

Over the years, European legislation, particularly the excessive reliance on directives rather than directly applicable regulations, has contributed to an increasingly complex patchwork of national rules.

The result is a regulatory and legislative maze that undermines the efficiency of the Single Market, imposes unnecessary costs on businesses and disproportionately penalises SMEs.

But genuine simplification begins with good lawmaking.

The best way to simplify legislation is to avoid unnecessary complexity in the first place. This requires prudence, consistency, legal clarity and a realistic assessment of economic consequences.

Europe has too often failed to exercise such caution. Several European industries are now paying a heavy price for regulatory choices that have proved disconnected from global economic and technological realities.

There is another danger: simplification itself can become a source of additional complexity.

Repeatedly amending, repealing and replacing legislation risks creating further legal uncertainty and instability for businesses.

We must avoid replacing one regulatory maze with another.

This is why One Market, One Law advocates a more radical and structural approach.

True simplification means replacing the patchwork of 27 national business-law frameworks with one coherent European Business Code, providing a common legal foundation for companies operating throughout the Single Market.

Rather than endlessly trying to reconcile 27 different sets of rules, Europe should progressively establish a single, clear and predictable framework for corporate and commercial law.

The optional 28th regime offers a pragmatic way forward, allowing businesses to benefit from common European rules without dismantling national legal systems.

Its first building block, EU Inc. (Societas Europaea Simplificata), can pave the way for a comprehensive European Business Code.

Simplification should not mean endlessly rewriting the rules. It should mean replacing fragmentation with unity, complexity with clarity, and legal uncertainty with predictability.

Europe does not need 27 versions of the Single Market.

One Market, One Law! 🇪🇺