Elon Musk: Overregulation Is Slowly Strangling Europe—Immediate Action Needed

Elon Musk: Europe needs immediate action to reduce regulation and bureaucracy.

“Europe actually has more bureaucracy than the US does because you don't just have the provincial and sort of national level, you also have the EU on top of that.

To be totally frank, the EU headquarters in Brussels is essentially a giant cathedral to bureaucracy. So, if one wishes to visit the grand cathedral of bureaucracy, visit the EU headquarters in Brussels.

I do think that Europe probably needs government efficiency more than the US does. And this needs to happen at the country level and at the EU level.

I think overregulation has inhibited a tremendous amount of progress and innovation in Europe.

I call it the slow strangulation by overregulation because it's not like at any one moment you feel like this is it. But the noose around the neck just gets a little tighter every year, and eventually it's going to kill Europe.

So there must be, in my opinion, immediate action to reduce regulation at the EU level, at the country level, and at the local level.”

WELT Economic Summit, January 28, 2025