COMMISSION PRESENTS BETTER REGULATION PLAN TO COUNCIL.

The European Commission presented its plan to scrap nearly 70 legislative proposals to EU ministers at their Competitiveness Council meeting in Luxembourg on October 11. The initiative involves withdrawing 68 pieces of legislation which are either out-of-date or in stalemate and re-assessing eight more depending on further economic analysis and was presented to the European Parliament by Commission Vice-President Gunter Verheugen on September 27 (see Europe Information 2992).

Several delegations expressed support for the Commission's plan (in particular the Netherlands and Luxembourg) while France highlighted the proposals it would not like to see dropped. These included ones on food...