The 67-year-old is currently preparing to hand over the company to his daughter so that he can then concentrate fully on Johannes Ludewig’s successor on the Regulatory Control Council.
(Photo: DIE FAMILIENUNTERNEHMER eV / Maria Schulz)
Berlin Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) has proposed Lutz Goebel as the new chairman of the National Regulatory Control Council. Goebel was most recently President of the Association of Family Entrepreneurs and is the managing partner of Henkelhausen GmbH & Co. KG. He also holds a number of advisory board mandates.
The Regulatory Control Council consists of ten independent experts and has, among other things, the task of examining all draft laws for bureaucracy and potential for simplification. Under ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, the body had increasingly lost importance.
The traffic light coalition is now trying to make a fresh start by no longer hanging the Regulatory Control Council in the Chancellery. Federal Justice Minister Buschmann is now taking care of the issue.
This is linked to the hope that a specialist minister can better promote the reduction of bureaucracy. In view of the many crises, the chancellor did not have the time to do so.
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The new chairman-designate fits into this strategy. “Lutz Goebel combines many years of economic activity and political experience through his commitment to family businesses in Germany. He knows the importance of reducing bureaucracy and clear rules – and how to give it weight,” says Buschmann.
Goebel is a family business with heart and soul. His company, the engine specialist Henkelhausen in Krefeld, has an annual turnover of around 90 million euros. The 67-year-old is currently preparing to hand over the company to his daughter so that he can then concentrate fully on Johannes Ludewig’s successor on the Regulatory Control Council. The former head of Deutsche Bahn headed the committee for 16 years.
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Goebel knows from practice how quickly bureaucracy can restrict small and medium-sized companies in their business activities or even cause them to give up. “Bureaucracy costs big companies a lot of money, and small ones can quickly lose their existence,” he says. The ever-increasing bureaucracy is crushing entrepreneurial activity. “That’s why I’m taking on this important task,” says Goebel.
Goebel knows bureaucratic burdens from his own entrepreneurial experience. That distinguishes him from Ludewig, who was first a career official and then Bahn boss. As President of the Association of Family Entrepreneurs, Goebel regularly campaigned against excessive EU directives and excessive draft laws.
Buschmann: “Above all, good law must be practical”
Anyone who has experienced Goebel knows that this is a passionate fighter against bureaucracy in Germany. The Federal Minister of Justice also linked high expectations to the personnel. “Above all, good law must be practical and effective, the financial and time expenditure for citizens, for companies and also for the administration itself must be as low as possible,” demands the FDP politician.
In the future, the National Regulatory Control Council will be located directly at the center of the federal government’s legislation, in the Federal Ministry of Justice. “In this matter, we will seamlessly continue the good cooperation we have had so far,” says Buschmann.
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