Take a Gander at Bremen's Persistent Economic Slump in 2024
Economic decline persists for Bremen in the year 2024
The Chamber of Commerce has issued an annual report stating a sobering one percent drop in Bremen's economic performance for last year. This unfavorable trend points to another year of economic downturn, afflicting the state yet again. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, André Grobien, described this turn of events as a formidable economic conundrum.
According to the report, factors such as red tape overload and antiquated digitalization have hampered local businesses in the region, creating significant challenges for Bremen's economy. Furthermore, international crises and their repercussions on global trade have hit Bremen particularly hard.
"For crying out loud, we need to pump more goddamn cash into economic growth," Grobien exclaimed, demanding urgent action to deregulate and de-bureaucratize the system for swifter investments and decisions.
The Bremen ports, however, present a glimmer of hope amidst the gloom. Here, sea cargo and container handling increased slightly by roughly six percent last year.
Facing the Challenge
Addressing the challenges highlighted in the report necessitates action on multiple fronts. Fortunately, measures and solutions proposed to combat excessive bureaucracy and shoddy digitalization mirror broader initiatives across Germany and the EU aimed at streamlining regulatory processes and modernizing digital infrastructure.
Weeding Out Bureaucracy Across Germany:
- Start-up Hubs and Centralized Systems: The German government intends to create start-up hubs with simplified legal procedures, designed to expedite entrepreneurship by minimizing bureaucratic hold-ups[2].
- Digital Revamp and Modern Government Operations: The formation of a dedicated Ministry for Digitalization and State Modernization targets enhancing the digital transformation of administrative services and public sector operations, thereby speeding up processes[2].
- Mandatory Electronic Invoicing: Mandatory e-invoicing for domestic B2B transactions will become compulsory from 2025, reducing paperwork and expediting financial processes[4][5].
- Bureaucracy Relief Act: This act, enacted in 2024 and effective from 2025, relaxes certain administrative burdens for businesses by reducing retention periods for accounting documents and easing regulations[4].
- Streamlined Data Protection Supervision and Friendly AI Regulation: Regulatory reforms underway seek to optimize data protection oversight and usher in the EU AI Act in a manner that promotes innovation with minimal bureaucratic hurdles[2].
- Trade Simplifications: The government plans to expedite and simplify export permit procedures by transitioning from regular to random reviews, thereby reducing red tape that impinges on trade[2].
European Regulatory Simplifications:
- Omnibus IV Package: The EU Commission’s fourth omnibus initiative, effective from 2025, brings sweeping simplifications to product law and regulatory compliance, primarily benefiting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small midcaps (SMCs) by lessening strict regulations and reducing administrative expenses by hundreds of millions of euros across the EU[3].
Specific Digitalization Measures for the Logistics Sector:
- Digitalization in Logistics: The implementation of the Import Control System 2 (ICS2) demands electronic declaration of goods before their arrival in the EU, thereby streamlining customs procedures and decreasing paperwork[4].
Together, these initiatives aim to eradicate red tape through legal simplification, digital administrative tools, and regulatory reforms, fostering a more business-friendly environment and bolstering economic growth in regions such as Bremen. Though not specific to Bremen, these federal and EU policies reinforce digital infrastructure, reduce regulatory barriers, and improve administrative efficiency, positively impacting Bremen's economic landscape.
Grobien's demands for urgent action to deregulate and de-bureaucratize the system for swifter investments and decisions align with the proposed Bureaucracy Relief Act, enacted in 2024, which aims to relax administrative burdens for businesses by reducing retention periods for accounting documents and easing regulations.
The ongoing initiatives across Germany and the EU, such as the Omnibus IV Package, are designed to lessen strict regulations and reduce administrative expenses, particularly benefiting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small midcaps (SMCs), which have been significant challenges for Bremen's local businesses.
