MEP hits out at EU rule book expansion

AN East Midlands MEP has hit out at a bulging rule book which governs the European Union.

Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said the Acquis Communautaire – the EU's rule book – has expanded by 100,000 extra pages of EU rules under Labour.

Research by the think-tank Open Europe has shown the Acquis is now more than 170,000 pages long in total and that from 1998 to 2008 the number of legal acts in force in the EU has gone from 10,800 in 1998 to more than 26,500 in 2008.

Mr Helmer has said that while some legislation may be advantageous, for example if it helps complete the internal market, the sheer volume of new EU rules represents an added burden on business.

Mr Helmer said: "The Labour government and Labour MEPs have allowed far too much extra regulation to be imposed.

"To its credit, the European Commission has begun a programme of scrapping or simplifying laws that are either obsolete or unnecessarily complex. The pace needs to be moved up several gears.

"Entrepreneurs should be free to grow their businesses and people should be free to live with as little interference from the EU as possible.

"Too many people feel the EU creates rules and regulations but that it is not on their side. It is time we looked at the EU's rule book and asked what regulation we really need."