Dresden - Bureaucracy in Saxony continues to increase
The bureaucracy in Saxony is continuing to grow despite opposing statements, causing significant additional costs. The Normenkontrollrat of the Free State gave a discouraging report on Thursday. "If we follow the public discourse on the state of our common wealth, the call for bureaucracy reduction is ubiquitous - hardly any political or social actors, the economy, or even the average citizen express unanimous approval for the reduction of state bureaucracy," explained Birgit Munz, Chair of the Committee. However, the Normenkontrollrat must regularly report on an increase in expenses caused by new state laws and regulations.
Through the regulations reviewed by the Normenkontrollrat, citizens, businesses, and administration faced annual burdens totaling 12.9 million Euro in 2023. This was offset by savings of 4.1 million Euro. In total, this represented a further increase, according to the report. Additionally, there were one-time burdens of 10.3 million Euro - for example, through the law to strengthen constitutional loyalty in public service and the student energy allowance regulation. The one-time savings amounted to only 20,000 Euro.
The Normenkontrollrat recommends specific targets for bureaucracy reduction and better legislation in its annual report. "For example, it could be the target to reduce bureaucratic burdens by 25 percent, or the introduction of the 'One in, one out' rule. This rule means that the regulatory compliance burden created by new regulations must be reduced within a legislative period," the Justice Ministry shared. In addition, the administration should be digitized more quickly and the response time for new regulations should be shortened to six weeks for all parties involved.
Since 2016, Saxon ministries have been required, when drafting legislative bills and regulatory ordinances that require the involvement of the state government, to determine the associated costs for citizens, businesses, and administration. In addition to time costs, this also includes the costs incurred by these groups.
Despite the widespread calls for reducing bureaucracy in Saxony, the Normenkontrollrat's report reveals that Dresden's Administration continues to grapple with increasing expenses due to new laws and regulations. The growing bureaucracy in Saxony, as evident in Dresden, has resulted in annual burdens of 12.9 million Euro for citizens, businesses, and the Administration in 2023.
