Brussels, 12/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 February 2010, the EU finance ministers will publish a conclusions document urging Member States to speed up their transposition of the EU Services Directive, which should have been introduced into domestic legislation by 31 December 2009. The European Commission published a report early in January 2010 stating that six countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia) would not be able to apply the Services Directive until the spring (see EUROPE 10050).
In the draft conclusions document which this newsletter has obtained, the ministers say that the full potential of the Single Market has not been exploited and they are eagerly awaiting the publication of an action plan based on actual case studies. The plan is expected to take account of any proposals for boosting the Single Market to be issued by former Internal Market and Competition Commissioner Mario Monti in April this year. At the ECOFIN Council on Tuesday, Monti will be outlining his preliminary ideas on how the Single Market can be stimulated. The EU27 finance ministers will urge the Commission to issue a report at the end of 2010 on progress in implementing various areas of the Services Directive and to publish an economic assessment of the Services Directive next year. The ECOFIN Council will stress the importance of implementing the exit strategy at the right time. (M.B. trans fl)