Ex-Lord Mayor Salomon is supposed to clean out the mountains of files

Status: 26/09/2023, 13:49 p.m.

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Ex-Mayor Dieter Salomon is to ensure less bureaucracy in Baden-Württemberg as the new chairman of the Regulatory Control Council. © Bernd Weißbrod/dpa

The call for help from the administration and business was loud and clear. In an incendiary letter, they sound the alarm. The bureaucracy endangered the site. The Regulatory Control Council is supposed to help here. The new chairman sees few alternatives to mucking out.

Stuttgart - The former mayor of Freiburg, Dieter Salomon (Greens), is to ensure less bureaucracy in Baden-Württemberg as the new chairman of the Regulatory Control Council. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann described the 63-year-old on Tuesday in Stuttgart as an "ideal candidate". "He knows where business, administration and private individuals are burdened by bureaucracy," said the Green politician. Salomon, a party friend of Kretschmann, has been managing director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of the Southern Upper Rhine Chamber of Industry and Commerce since 2019.

His appointment as chairman marks the end of a stalemate. Salomon's upcoming election had already become known last March, and he had recently even described it as "irritating" in an interview with the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" that he had not yet been able to take up his task. The protracted procedure could indicate that the Greens and the CDU were only able to agree with difficulty on the tasks and procedure of the advisory body.

The Regulatory Control Council was set up by the state government in 2018 to support politicians as an independent expert body in reducing bureaucracy. Until the end of the year, the former CDU member of the state parliament Gisela Meister-Scheufelen headed the committee. Their term of office had not been extended at the end of 2022. This had triggered a lot of criticism.

Above all, Salomon urged haste: "I think with all the prophecies of doom from people who say that nothing will come out of it, that something has to come out of it. There is no other way, because otherwise we can unsubscribe," said the former state and local politician, who does not want to return to politics despite the new honorary office.

The excessive bureaucracy and the mass of requirements and regulations is a particular thorn in the side of Prime Minister Kretschmann in this legislative period. From his point of view, what is needed is a cultural change away from control and towards more trust. It is no longer possible to maintain the control of many regulations because there is simply a lack of personnel for this.

The opposition, on the other hand, accuses his government of waiting too long and delaying the new occupation. "Reducing bureaucracy is only lip service for them, but not a mandate for action," criticized FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke. For the AfD, its parliamentary group leader Anton Baron described the Regulatory Control Council as a "toothless tiger" because ultimately the government decides.

The state government, municipalities and business associations had only recently agreed on an alliance to reduce bureaucracy and on key points for streamlining rules and regulations. Ministries should develop proposals on where bureaucratic hurdles should be reduced. The Regulatory Control Council is to be closely involved in this process.

The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BWIHK) sees bureaucracy as "simply a business risk for our companies". Companies across all industries suffered from a flood of bureaucratic requirements on a daily basis. "For example, a typical medium-sized company in the hospitality industry works 14 hours a week just to fulfill bureaucratic obligations," said BWIHK Vice President Thomas Conrady. Dpa