A new proposal in the European Commission would reduce red tape and wasted money, but it comes at a heavy price to European Union member states: further loss of national sovereignty.

The Commission has introduced a proposal that would force European Union countries to end their national requirements on goods imported from other EU nations. The Commission’s figures indicate that the current rules cost the EU about €150 billion a year in lost trade. While the proposal would cut down on burdensome regulations and make it easier for EU companies to sell their products to other member states, it is another move toward the creation of a federal superstate at the price of national sovereignty.

Current EU rules stipulate that a company can sell a product in any of the 27 member nations as long as it respects the regulations of that country. A nation can restrict an import from a fellow EU member state if it fails to meet its national regulations. The new legislation, however, introduced on February 14, requires that national authorities justify why a product sold in another EU country cannot be sold in theirs. The document states that if a country refuses market access, it “has to set out in detail the precise reasons for its refusal.”

The project also calls for member nations to create one single agency that would check whether goods are in compliance to EU rules, rather than the 1,800 agencies that currently do so.

The creeping centralization of power in the EU will have a profound effect on member nations. Trade and business are one of the chief cornerstones of any nation or empire. Whatever institution governs the trade of a nation or group of nations, whether monarchy, dictator or parliament, essentially rules that nation. Hence, these proposals are one more step in the creation of a European empire.