According to a new VDMA survey, in which 700 member companies from the mechanical and plant engineering sector took part, three quarters (76%) of companies rate the urgency of reducing the bureaucratic burden as "very high". A further 21 percent describe it as "high". This puts the reduction of bureaucracy ahead of the availability of qualified workers and energy prices in the ranking of necessary improvements. In order to ensure the success of industrial SMEs, the German government must take tangible measures quickly - first and foremost a serious reduction in bureaucracy.
"Even though the German government has taken good initial steps to speed up planning and approval procedures, this is not nearly enough," said VDMA President Karl Haeusgen at a press conference on the occasion of the 14th German Mechanical Engineering Summit in Berlin. Haeusgen does not yet see any reduction in bureaucracy. He also criticized the traffic light coalition for not resisting the flood of EU regulations. "The bureaucratic frustration and the flood of regulations are enormously annoying for companies. In this country, every location decision is drowned in a jumble of applications and approvals. In addition, there is a plethora of reporting obligations and well-intentioned but poorly drafted laws that take away our freedom and power to innovate and invest," emphasized Haeusgen.