The Bulgarian MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Kristian Vigenin achieved an important result as rapporteur of the European Parliament on part of the legislative package “Omnibus IV”, aimed at reducing the administrative burden on business and creating a more predictable economic environment in the European Union. The political groups agreed on his compromise proposals, which will allow the legislation to move faster.

“My work has been focused on extending the reliefs previously available only to small and medium-sized enterprises to small businesses with a medium market capitalisation. These are more than 40 000 companies, which are the backbone of the industry in the individual countries, but until now they remained outside the scope of the existing measures”, said Vigenin.

He stressed that his priority in his work was to maintain support for the smallest enterprises. “The aim was to avoid the risk of reducing real support for the smallest businesses for which these reliefs were originally designed. That is why I insisted on a reasonable and proportionate scope of measures and on the application of the same criteria in all legislative texts. We cannot use one formula in one directive and a completely different one in another”, the MEP pointed out.

The report also includes changes to legislation on the resilience of critical entities – infrastructures and services of key importance to society. “The aim is to make it easier for companies that run essential services such as electricity, transport, digital networks, water and healthcare, without weakening security and sustainability standards,” Vigenin stressed.

The negotiations also reached agreement on the application of data protection rules. “We have agreed new rules related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) so that the requirements are clear, transparent and consistent across the EU. The goal is met – less red tape for more European companies, but without compromising on the protection of our personal data”, he said.

Vigenin stressed that as rapporteur his task was to ensure a real improvement in the legislation. “My task was to achieve real simplification, transparency in the process and clear rules that really work for business and for jobs,” he added.

The work on this legislation is part of the European Union’s broader efforts to improve the economic environment, based on Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness. It points to low investment, a fragmented market and complex regulations as challenges facing the European economy.

That is why the European Commission has launched the Omnibus initiative, aimed at simplifying legislation and reducing administrative burdens to create better conditions for growth, innovation and access to finance. So far, the Commission has submitted six legislative packages and the Bulgarian MEP is actively working on three of them.