There is no shortage of promises and concepts: For decades, politics has committed to reducing bureaucracy and has produced a series of "bureaucracy relief laws." We are now at number 4. However, they have only shown short-term effects, as criticized by the National Regulatory Council (Normenkontrollrat – NKR), which also analyzes the cost effects of laws on companies. In its latest report, the members were downright shocked by the results: Never before has the "compliance burden" for companies and citizens to meet bureaucratic and legal requirements increased as much as in the past year: A 54% increase or 9.3 billion euros to a total of 26.8 billion euros.

With reference to the burdens of bureaucracy, the FDP recently pulled the emergency brake and aimed to stop the Supply Chain Act. Additionally, in a letter, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) recently reminded his cabinet colleague, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Robert Habeck (The Greens), of the promise in the coalition agreement, adding in handwriting: "We need to make faster progress in bureaucracy reduction!" because the economy urgently needs to pick up speed again.

Indeed, bureaucracy reduction was elevated to one of the main goals in the government coalition agreement: "We want to simplify processes and rules and give the economy, especially the self-employed entrepreneurs, more time for their actual tasks," it is prominently stated. It says that "superfluous bureaucracy" will be reduced. However, the so-called traffic light parties are sensitive to criticism. Felix Banaszak (The Greens) pointed out that the government had already abolished 80 regulations, and 60 more were under review. Nevertheless, the coalition parties rejected the Union faction's proposal for a "bureaucracy brake" along with a "burden inspection" last November without extensive debate on the contents and without identifying potential common points.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself has repeatedly warned of a "mildew of bureaucratism, risk aversion, and timidity" that has settled over the country. And he has invoked the need for a new "Germany speed". With great emphasis, reference is made in this context to the "Bureaucracy Relief Act IV". However, only small steps are listed here, which, taken together, would result in a relief of at most 2.3 billion euros, provided they can be implemented accordingly. It involves achievements such as reducing the retention period for booking documents from 10 to 8 years and no longer requiring every guest to fill out a registration form in hotels.

There was also a survey among associations regarding which regulations they believe can be eliminated. Over 400 suggestions for cuts were submitted to the ministers. However, after examination by the ministerial bureaucracy, only 34 were actually fully adopted, while 210 were rejected. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, led by Hubertus Heil (SPD), stood out with 61 rejections alone, citing them as "not feasible". According to the business community, while commendable, these changes were not a great liberation.

But what good is a bureaucracy relief law if the governing coalition itself ignores all good intentions with its new laws and goes even further? The Building Energy Act ("Heating Act"), presented in spring and then revised again, is intended to ensure that by 2028, every newly installed heating system operates with at least 65% renewable energy, is considered a veritable bureaucratic sledgehammer. For the NKR, this is even worth a separate chapter. Detailed regulations have been issued for the law, leading to a significant bureaucratic effort, including ensuring that grant funds are only disbursed to eligible recipients. Every conceivable variant in energy conversion found its way into the law.

The Building Energy Act is only "the tip of the iceberg," warns the NKR. "There are many other cases where hundreds of pages of complex legislation are rushed through parliament at breakneck speed." Often, there is no time to involve those affected and enforcement experts. This adversely affects practicality, regulation becomes sloppy, and mistakes occur. "This complicates implementation, creates unnecessary bureaucracy, and hinders the effectiveness of laws," criticizes the NKR. Overall, "a trend of the past three years" is continuing – a development that essentially falls within the term of the so-called traffic light government.

However, the excessive bureaucracy has further consequences, which in themselves lead to new bureaucracy: The necessary increase in administrative staff to implement, review, and enforce the many regulations. Between 2012 and 2022, 14% more administrative positions were created in federal, state, and local governments, now totalling 4.83 million jobs. Of the additional 584,000 positions, there was an increase of 118,000 people alone in the areas of "Political Leadership" and "Central Administration."

While the growth in sectors such as public security and social security is understandable, as more security personnel and police are known to be needed, and more personnel is obviously required for the integration of refugees and childcare, the increase in ministries and central authorities raises questions. It is to be feared, writes Björn Kauder, an economist at the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne, "that an overweight bureaucracy is increasingly emerging here." The suspicion arises that additional positions are being created, not least for political reasons. "This development certainly does not fit the goal of a lean and efficient administration."

At the green-led Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, the coalition partners are now finding open doors with their demands to turn the tide on bureaucracy reduction finally. It is pointed out there that norm control is no longer sufficient because the "low-hanging fruits" have long been harvested. The new approach pursued by Robert Habeck's department since last year, which is now to be rolled out extensively after initial attempts, relies on practical checks. This means that economic processes and new laws will be simulated from start to finish in the future. At the same time, experts from business and administration will be systematically involved to identify obstacles and assess the practicality of regulations.

Practical checks have already been tested in the field of photovoltaics, where stakeholders identified over 50 obstacles to commercial and private solar expansion, some of which have already been cleared. There have also been initial results in the field of wind energy. The list of areas to be examined further in the Ministry of Economic Affairs is long: Checks are planned for the rules for business startups and transfers, sustainability reporting, which often causes discontent in the business community, in the field of data protection, heat pump installation, but also in the food trade, namely butchers and bakers.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs aims to establish its practical checks as the second pillar of bureaucracy reduction alongside transparency/norm control. It has already called on other departments to participate. The current response: Nearly zero. In Brussels, it is customary to conduct "Impact Assessments" in new legislative procedures. The practical checks are also based on this, although EU laws, in particular, have not been known for their lack of bureaucracy so far.