Lawmakers across the EU are debating whether the bloc needs its own Elon Musk-style reforms, after local tech leaders voiced support for his agenda in the US.
Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday, “chief buddy” Musk is expected to oversee a new Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with drastically cutting government spending and rolling back business regulations.
Startup founders and VCs told Sifted they had been inspired by Musk’s move into politics, prompting them to lobby for a version of his agenda to be adopted in the EU, where businesses have often clashed with lawmakers over regulation.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, is expected to publish an “omnibus simplification package” next month. The proposals are expected to try and simplify existing environmental regulations, making it easier for businesses to comply. Some say this should be the first step towards more DOGE-style reforms.
“In general, yes. We need something like this,” says Axel Voss, a German MEP and leading member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest party in the European Parliament.
Last month Voss wrote to the Commission, demanding the omnibus package be expanded to areas it doesn’t currently address, such as the regulation of batteries, chemicals, and conflict minerals.
The EPP has now called for a number of incoming sustainability laws to be put on ice for two years, suggesting legislators use the pause to further simplify and roll back laws in areas such as agriculture and deforestation.
Voss says: “We need to stop everything for two years. Then we can come back and try to do it more correctly, in a way where competition is the priority.”
Regulation vs innovation
The EU has been accused of prioritsing regulation over innovation, with a recent report from former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi urging the EU to raise investment and cut regulation, drawing cheers from some in the tech industry.
At the ‘New Ambition for Europe Summit’ in Brussels last week, the CEOs of Ericsson, Nokia and SAP stressed the importance of shoring up Europe’s competitiveness, warning failure threatened to upend “the European way of life”.
“The situation is serious: we need to act, and we need to act quickly,” said Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO of Nokia. European regulators also faced criticism, with companies describing a “tsunami of regulation”, much of which they said was being implemented differently across various member states.
Regulations kicking in throughout Europe this year include the AI Act and the Data Act, with more probes taking place under the scopes of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
‘If the US doesn’t care about climate change, why should we?’
Virginie Joron, a French MEP and member of the far-right National Rally party, tells Sifted her party hopes to “exchange, learn and share our experience” with the Trump administration.
“Sometimes only outsiders can truly welcome and achieve change,” she says. “That is why the DOGE idea in the US is fascinating. Finally having a successful manager bringing his expertise to the heart of Washington to help business and the economy flourish.”
But many in Europe reject this characterisation. Alexandra Geese, a German MEP for the Greens who worked on the DSA, says Musk doesn’t want to streamline regulation, but to effectively let businesses do whatever they want. “The Musk-Trump plan could become a model for right-wing politics in Europe,” she says.
“Because it’s an excuse to get rid of environmental standards, or other regulations, if they do. They will say, ‘If the US doesn’t care about climate change, why should we?’”
Brando Benifei, an Italian MEP who co-chaired the drafting of the EU’s AI Act, says calls for looser regulations are no surprise. “This is not a new topic. We have heard this from many right-leaning businesspeople throughout history,” he says.
“What is new is the idea of no rules for the digital space, or for social media. If the mainstream centre-right moves to the far-right on these topics, joining Musk in the name of free speech, then that would be a real concern,” he says.
“We would lose our majority and our ability to limit the diffusion of misinformation and hateful content.”
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/elon-musk-eu-doge-tech/
