Verheugen bares teeth in anti-red tape drive

EU industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen has raised the alarm on poor efforts to slash EU over-regulation, slamming the European Commission's own high officials while calling for a red tape reduction quota to be fixed to member states.

Mr Verheugen, together with commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, is spearheading Brussels' campaign to scrap redundant legislative proposals in the pipeline, while also simplifying existing EU lawbooks.

But the campaign, launched last autumn...