Sánchez Criticises EU Simplification Agenda at Socialist Event as Commission Reports Billions in Savings

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke via videocall on Tuesday at an event organized by Socialist members of the European Parliament. He told participants that deregulation is not the path to competitiveness. “Some will say that to compete, you must deregulate.

Those who say that are often the very same people who left the world into the financial crisis with that same regime,” Sánchez said. He added that the issue is not the number of rules but their quality: “This is not about having more or fewer laws or rules. ” Sánchez’s intervention drew the strongest applause from the Socialist MEPs and staff at the Dialogue on a Progressive European Future.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. His comments directly challenged the European Commission’s simplification agenda, which over the past two years has advanced ten “omnibus” packages aimed at reducing regulatory burdens on companies.

5 billion by 2029. A package easing corporate sustainability reporting was approved in 2025. Germany, Italy, and the Nordic countries have supported the broader effort.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pushed the “one in, two out” principle, under which two existing regulations would be eliminated for every new one adopted at EU level. ” He said Spain demonstrates that economic growth can occur alongside reduced inequality and that the country leads the green transition without sacrificing competitiveness.

Socialist lawmakers at the event promoted a “strategic turn” built on six pillars: affordable housing, affordable high-quality food, quality jobs, clean energy, a genuine defence union, and increased taxes and oversight for big tech.

Three left-leaning prime ministers remain in office in the EU. Sánchez and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen lead coalition minority governments, while Malta’s Robert Abela holds a slim parliamentary majority.