In her speech to the European Parliament, the now re-elected Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also made the reduction of bureaucracy a key issue. It is good that the EU Commission wants to deal with this in detail. After all, much of our national legislation now also has its origins in European directives and regulations. Green Deal initiatives, such as the IED, CSRD and CS3D directives, are causing European SMEs in particular to suffocate in paperwork – but without providing the necessary support for implementation. In particular, reporting obligations with up to 1,000 individual aspects are pushing companies to their limits.