A Dose of DOGE (Sans Elon) Is Just What Europe Needs
Throw a rock in Paris’ Station F or Berlin’s tech hub and you’ll hit someone with a regulatory horror story to tell.
The reconstruction of Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral shows Europe can do things fast if it wants to.
Photographer: RICCARDO MILANI/AFPTesla Inc. billionaire Elon Musk recently compared his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s purpose to unchaining the US’s economic Gulliver. Yet it’s in the European Union, which is suffering a Lilliputian-style shrinkage of productivity growth and innovation, where enthusiasm is building for a continental equivalent to escape the “hell” of red tape. France is calling for a “massive” regulatory pause; the EU is eyeing a 25% cut in reporting obligations. Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, told Davos it was “unbelievable” what Europe can do when allowed, citing France’s speed in rebuilding the Notre Dame Cathedral.
This simplification drive is good news — and yet it will surely be more complicated than it looks.