Legislative and administrative simplification: Report by the group of independent experts known as MOLITOR group

In adopting the report by Mrs Marlies MOSIEK-URBAHN on simplification of Community legislation and administrative provisions, Parliament rejected any definition of simplification that involves the concept of deregulation, or the view that the best law is the one that is abolished. Although the prime objective of simplification is to create a stable environment for investment and growth, boosting job creation by increasing profitability and competitiveness, the creation of jobs does not depend primarily on legislative simplification. However, Parliament maintained that every future legislative proposal at the Community level should be assessed using four criteria: its desirability, the how of action, cost-benefit analysis and assessment. Any analysis should not be confined to immediate economic concerns but should include other factors, including the implications for a type of development that met environmental and social justice requirements. Parliament took the view that the report of the Molitor Group offered no new approaches and regretted that it did not examine the effects of deregulation at European level entailing a renationalization of the applicable provisions. More specifically, Parliament opposed any deregulation of labour law that would undermine good relations between management and labour and put the health and safety of workers at risk. It denounced the deregulation proposals whose effect would be to encourage 'social dumping' within the European Union. It also rejected a large number of recommendations seeking to revise environmental policy in a manner incompatible with the principles laid down by the EC Treaty, particularly in their rejection of binding environmental provisions at European level. Parliament reaffirmed that the precautionary principle should continue to be used as a basic principle of EU environmental legislation. It considered, for example, fhat the Molitor Group's proposal on the 'Waste' Directive would have the effect of dismantling the existing level of environmental protection and encourage uncontrolled transfers of waste. Finally, Parliament drew the Commission's attention to the obligations incumbent upon it as guardian of the Treaties and called upon it to analyse why EC directives are not implemented. �