Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris will use his first meeting of European finance ministers to support a Danish proposal to impose an economic impact assessment on all forthcoming European Commission proposals.
It comes after new figures show that 55% of current legislative proposals from the commission were put forward without any accompanying impact assessment.
The matter was discussed in detail in a bi-lateral meeting last night between Mr Harris and his Danish counterpart Stephanie Lose, during which Mr Harris said he intends to make the issue a major priority when Ireland assumes the EU presidency next July.
Speaking in Brussels this afternoon, Mr Harris said it has been made clear to the European Commission that all regulations that come forward need to have an economic impact assessment.
"It is absolutely essential that we have full understanding of the costs of regulations," said the Tánaiste.
"Personally, I think the pace of regulations need to slow down," he said.
Mr Harris said the focus in Ireland and across Europe should be on "delivery, delivery, delivery".
"No new regulation should stand in the way of that," he said.
