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EC's Barroso calls draft laws 'absurd'

LONDON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The chief executive of the European Union wants to scrap at least 69 draft laws that he called absurd.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, in a bid to change the culture of the Brussels-based bureaucracy, said the EU has an "absurd" tendency to over-regulate, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

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Among the most egregious examples is a proposed rule -- defeated by the European Parliament -- that would have forced Bavarian barmaids to cover the tops of their bosoms so they will not be unduly exposed to excessive ultraviolet rays.

His review of proposed rules already has identified 69 that are being scrapped.

Barroso, noting that the EU's rule book for member states already runs to 85,000 pages, said Brussels appetite for meddling had become a "joke."

"I'm not against regulation at a European level, but we are no longer in the heroic era of Jacques Delors, completing the single market with a new piece of legislation every day," Barroso said.

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