Our raison d'être

March 2, 2025 2 min Read

Bürokratie is the bogeyman of our time. Blamed for everything imaginable it feels like life would somehow be better if we get rid of it all. Yet this fails to acknowledge the important role bureaucracy plays in modern society. We need a counter narrative. We are the counter narrative.

Remember Fridays for Future? The fanfare around the European Green Deal?

That initial wave of optimism? It faded.

In its place: a relentless push for deregulation, championed by powerful business lobbies. Their main argument? That over-regulation and so-called bureaucratic burdens are making European companies uncompetitive.

It’s a narrative carefully crafted—and repeated endlessly. But it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

A study commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs found that regulatory uncertainty, not regulation itself, is the real burden on businesses.
A survey WeAreEurope shows that companies across the EU are largely supportive of the transparency requirements under the Green Deal.
And Germany’s Bürokratiekostenindex has fallen since it was introduced in 2012.

So why is this deregulation narrative still gaining ground?
One reason is the access to funding for political representation. Business lobbies are much better financed that civil society.

Plus, let’s be honest, “bureaucracy” has a terrible reputation. It’s often associated with red tape, inefficiency, and frustration. That makes it an easy target, especially when the language and imagery used are loaded and provocative. Just look at this example from the Association of Corrugated Cardboard:

Bürokratiemonster, Bürokratieabbau — Evil Bürokratiemonster designed by corporate lobby

The language and images used are sometimes pretty stark. In this case from the Association of Corrugated Cardboard. But they do well, because they connect to human emotion.

We say no more. No more deregulation, because of a fake enemy. Let’s go back to fact-based discussions. Wishful thinking, we know. Technical arguments are of little value these days. So, together with the German Initiative Lieferkettengesetz, we designed the Bürokratiemonster, Justus, Fleur and Robin and now continue to use them independently. We will introduce each of them in more detail going forward. Bear with us for now.

Our intention is to make people understand that the Bürokratiemonster aren’t as evil as they are made to be. They are actually quite cute and likeable. Besides their sheer existence they will start releasing blog posts and publications to provide a more differentiated view on Bürokratie. Not all forms of Bürokratie are valuable to society, but need a sober, rational discussions rather than letting some big business lobbies run amok and attack the very foundation of our society.