04/07/2025
The EFR and its Members support the Competitiveness Compass and the unprecedented simplification effort to address the fact that there is too much complexity in the EU regulatory framework, and that red tape has to be cut. We look forward to the various proposals that the European Commission has made and will make to achieve simplification.
The EFR welcomes the European Commission’s Omnibus Simplification Package and the urgency with which the Council and European Parliament approaches this overall framework approach. The Omnibus Simplification Package is a first significant step towards European Commission’s commitments to reduce administrative burden by 25%, to enhance the efficiency and the competitiveness of businesses, while making the sustainable agenda more feasible in practical terms.
The EFR Paper on Omnibus gives a high-level perspective on how the EFR Members and their institutions approach this important topic.
We fully agree that a reduction of unnecessary administrative burden is required to increase the attractiveness of the European market, thereby laying the foundations for increased economic growth and welfare distribution capacity to European citizens. In our view, simplification of the sustainable finance framework does not mean lessened ambition on net zero targets. We remain committed to support the European Commission’s ambitions on net zero.
Overall, consistency in the sustainability rulebook between reporting requirements on the real economy and financial institutions is essential for an overall efficient rulebook. The EFR encourages the Commission to communicate its willingness to adjust the financial services rulebook accordingly. Otherwise, we believe there will be challenging inconsistencies for banks and insurers. Also, to avoid additional or overlapping sustainability requirements under other legislation or supervisory expectations, the simplification process should include alignment of regulatory / supervisory requirements with the overall Omnibus legislation. It is therefore important to introduce a provision that would limit the ability of prudential authorities to require banks and insurers to collect and disclose more information than that required by for instance the CSRD standards.
As financial institutions operating worldwide, we welcome EU and international standard setters’ efforts to ensure interoperability between European and international reporting frameworks, such as the ISSB. The progress achieved so far in this respect is significant, and we support continued collaboration and further convergence efforts.