Cutting red tape cannot come at the cost of weakening environmental protection!
9th September 2025, Brussels – In its response to the European Commission’s consultation on “administrative simplification” in environmental law, SER Europe’s Legal Working Group stressed on a clear message: cutting red tape cannot come at the cost of weakening environmental protection.
While reducing unnecessary bureaucracy for companies and public authorities in areas like waste, products, and industrial emissions can be valuable, research shows that most burdens arise from how laws are applied, not from the laws themselves (Verschuuren, 2017). Changing or rolling back environmental legislation is therefore not the right solution.
Crucially, EU law prohibits environmental backsliding. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Art. 37) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (Art. 191) both require a high level of environmental protection and continuous improvement. The precautionary principle further demands that anyone proposing weaker rules must prove they will not reduce protection.
At the time when the EU has declared a climate and biodiversity emergency (European Parliament 2019) and set ambitious sustainability and restoration goals, close and sincere cooperation (Art. 4 TEU) between the EU institutions and Member States is needed more than ever. Weakening legal requirements and administrative processes would undermine coherence (Art. 11 TEU) and effective implementation of EU law (Art. 197 TFEU). Experience shows that reporting and compliance mechanisms are essential to keep Member States aligned with common targets (European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law, IMPEL).
The principle of non-regression in international environmental law, reinforced by global agreements and recent international court rulings on climate obligations – such as the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, points in the same direction: states’ environmental responsibilities should increase over time, not decrease.
Above all, SER Europe warns: short-term regulatory flexibility must not jeopardise long-term ecological integrity. Our survival depends on healthy ecosystems that provide clean air and water, fertile soils, climate regulation, and resilience to floods and droughts. Protecting and restoring nature is not just a legal duty – it is a matter of self-preservation.