Bureaucracy: Buschmann wants “systematic garbage collection” for the administration

In order to speed up processes in public administration and free citizens from unnecessary bureaucracy, Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, in his own words, wants to carry out “systematic garbage disposal” in the German regulatory thicket. At an economic summit organized by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the FDP politician reported on the example of a bakery in Hesse. First the employers’ liability insurance association complained that the floor was too smooth for employee safety reasons and then the health department found that the floor was too rough for hygiene reasons. Such contradictory rules made life unnecessarily difficult for entrepreneurs.

Buschmann described the fact that the bureaucracy cost index for 2022 had risen sharply as a “nuisance”. “This also has to do with the fact that we made some laws in dealing with the crisis that were quick, but perhaps not necessarily nice,” said the minister. However, as a result of 40 measures already decided by the cabinet, this index, which reflects the bureaucratic costs caused by decisions made by the federal government, will soon be reduced to “the lowest level since records began.”

In order to speed up processes in the state administrations, it is fundamentally helpful to create transparency, said Buschmann. For example, in the run-up to the Prime Minister’s Conference on Migration, data was compiled that showed that asylum claims procedures in Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, were completed much faster on average than in Brandenburg. Here and also in planning and approval processes, the countries should try to learn from each other. The Minister of Justice appealed that one must orientate oneself towards the best and “not be honorable” in doing so.