Mateusz Morawiecki: Europe needs a shake-up. The EU needs to be thoroughly rebuilt

• Mateusz Morawiecki called for a deep reconstruction of the European Union, arguing that excessive regulation is harming Europe's competitiveness towards the US and China.
• The EU bureaucracy is acting in its own interest, and deregulation will not occur without a decision at the European Commission level - he said during the European Economic Congress .
• Three EU priorities – climate, defence and welfare state – cannot be reconciled at the same time, you have to choose two of them, the former prime minister emphasised.

- Deregulation is a never-ending story - said Mateusz Morawiecki during the EEC in Katowice. The former Polish Prime Minister and head of the Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament argued that his government also struggled with regulatory inflation and tried to simplify procedures.

So why do we need to start simplifying things again today? According to Morawiecki, the answer lies in Poland's membership in the EU, where about 70 percent of regulations come from. The former prime minister argued that simplifying regulations is not in the interest of officials working in EU institutions. - These officials have their empire there. Are they willing to give up what they have been doing for years? No, they are not. Reluctantly, because this is their life, this is their job - he said, adding that the decision on deregulation must be made at the level of the European Commission.

So we have the strictest rules on AI, the thickest manuals on AI. But we don't have much AI in the European Union. That's where overregulation leads.

We are competing with the whole world, new priorities are needed

- In democratic, free-market, capitalist systems, and we are one of them, more and more regulations are being created and every now and then a wave of deregulation returns, especially under the influence of external impulses. We have such a strong external impulse today.

We are in a phase of direct global struggle with powerful economic areas like China and the United States. Europe needs anaphylactic shock.

- The European Union needs a very deep, thorough reconstruction . Among other things, because we have lost our competitiveness in recent years - noted the former prime minister. - I think we have reached a point where we need more than just deregulation, we need a thorough reconstruction of priorities.

Morawiecki cited ESG as an example of "bureaucratic overhang." "There's nothing like that in China, there's nothing like that in the United States. These are the European Union's main competitors, but of course India also counts in the global game, some North African countries, Asian countries, and South American countries," he added.

"We can't afford climate policy"

What priorities did Morawiecki have in mind? – They can be summed up in a triad: we have climate policy , which has become the true religion of the European Union for about 10-15 years. We have the priority of defence , raised to a pedestal. Our third area is maintaining the social contract, i.e. the welfare state . It is impossible to maintain these three priorities at the same time. You have to decide on two out of the three – the former prime minister emphasised. He added that he was inspired to this conclusion by the Mundell-Fleming concept. Economists have shown that it is impossible to maintain an independent monetary policy, free movement of capital and fixed exchange rates at the same time.

- In this trinity, it is impossible to simultaneously maintain the priority of climate policy, defense policy and an innovative welfare state. We have to decide on two of these three - he said, noting that he himself had focused on security and the welfare state.

What should be done to avoid making the same mistakes when rebuilding the EU and overdoing the regulations again? Morawiecki admitted that constant dialogue with entrepreneurs is crucial , because they know whether there are any disturbing changes that lower their productivity or reduce their margins. - Officials feel the hot breath of competition to a lesser extent and therefore are less able to recognize the problems of modern times for a given industry - said the former prime minister. - Constant dialogue with entrepreneurs - this is necessary, and not conducted only ad hoc when polls or bars show that it needs to be addressed.

Deregulation yes, but not at the expense of social democratic achievements

Morawiecki was mainly referring to entrepreneurs, but we also asked him about the perspective of other citizens. We wanted to know at what point getting rid of regulations would be excessive. As an example, we gave the famous topic of housing construction, where regulations are supposed to protect, among other things, against selling microscopic premises, calling them studios.

- I understand that capitalism has been heavily regulated for at least the last 200 years and many of these regulations are social achievements. Starting with the eight-hour workday and ending with examples like this one. Here, the arguments of citizens and entrepreneurs must be balanced - admitted the former prime minister. However, he emphasized that this does not mean putting aside all development or Christian achievements. - The social democratic trend led to the welfare state - he added.