On 29 January 2025, the European Commission published the EU Competitiveness Compass, outlining the EU’s economic doctrine for the next five years, and on 11 February, it released its Work Programme for this year.

As part of the priority “A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness”, and with simplification as a core goal, the Commission announced a first set of omnibus proposals aimed at streamlining several legislative acts, alongside a record number of initiatives with a strong simplification dimension.

These are intended to contribute to the target of reducing administrative burdens by at least 25%, and by at least 35% for SMEs.

The work programme also includes an annual plan for evaluations and fitness checks to ensure the continuation of the simplification and burden reduction exercise.

The omnibus proposals, of which three have already been identified—today’s concerning agriculture—are designed to address priority sectors highlighted by stakeholders and mentioned in the Draghi report.

They will focus efforts on ensuring coherence, creating momentum and thereby maximising simplification, by addressing the consequences of interactions between different legislative acts.

In particular, the Commission has proposed the streamlining and simplification of sustainability reporting, sustainability due diligence, and taxonomy. Next week, it will present a new legislative proposal to create a category of small mid-cap enterprises, with requirements tailored to their specific circumstances, and to eliminate inefficient paper-based requirements.

According to a 2024 report by the European Investment Bank, small mid-cap enterprises are defined as those with 250 to 500 employees.

This may suggest that the reporting threshold for “large companies” could shift from those with 250 employees to those with 500.

The objective of the new classification is expected to be to provide regulatory relief to approximately 31,000 companies, offering them reduced reporting obligations, so that SMEs face fewer barriers as they grow.

Our team is available for further information.