§ 21. Miss McIntoshTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans he has to use the Intergovernmental Conference next year to reduce the amount of regulation from the European Union. [90894]
§ Mr. KilfoyleThis Government achieved much through the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in terms of rasing the importance of the better European regulation agenda. In particular, the Protocol on subsidiarity and proportionality requires the Commission to take due account of the potential burdens from proposed legislation. These successes, along with the consensus among member states for a short, focused IGC, mean this Government do not intend to push for wide areas of the Treaties to be opened up for renegotiation. However, the Government do believe that the principles of better regulation should influence the EU' s decisions making process and will be pushing for this as part of their wider objectives for reform of the Commission and other institutions.