European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Wednesday backed right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's “common-sense solutions” to reduce EU bureaucracy. The EU must cut the red tape and strengthen its single market to be competitive in the global economy, Metsola added, name-checking China. The speech at the annual Meeting Rimini festival comes as Metsola seeks a third term at the helm of Parliament, potentially positioning her for a bid for the European Commission presidency in 2029.
A Maltese national fluent in Italian, she regularly travels to Italy and meets officials in Rome, fueling speculation that she is working to build Italian support for 2029. Metsola took a stab at the EU’s own landmark packaging regulation, which passed during her last mandate — a law Italy has lobbied against in Brussels. The rules “impose rigid and counterproductive burdens on European small and medium-sized enterprises,” which is "the exact opposite of what Europe should represent," Metsola said.
Since the law came into force this month, companies have been required to cover the costs of managing the packaging they place on the market once it becomes waste — a system known as extended producer responsibility. They must also appoint a representative in every EU country where they sell their products. The European Commission suggested scrapping that requirement in December to make compliance easier.
EU governments oppose the idea, while some MEPs want to drop the measure for small and medium-sized companies only. The MEPs' work on this file is ongoing and the Parliament isn’t expected to vote on the proposal until October, when lawmakers will negotiate a final version of the text with EU countries.
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