Brussels, 19/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Following the European Commission's presentation on 13 April of its 12 priorities for the relaunch of the single market (see EUROPE 10358), the Committee of the Regions (CoR), through its vice-president and rapporteur Jean-Louis Destans (PES, France), has said that the imbalance in the social, economic and governance pillars would seem to be continued in these 12 priorities. Yet, whether or not Europeans sign up to the single market depends on this balance and, at the moment, they seem very reluctant, said Destans, whose opinion was adopted on 1 April. He regretted that “we are not yet at the single market which stimulates and protects” and that the CoR had not been fully heard although its message was clear. Destans was especially critical that there was nothing new on the content of these measures and that the Commission was turning a deaf ear on services of general interest which are essential for European citizens and for local and regional authorities. “They should have been one of the Commission's main priorities instead of being relegated to a simple component, among others, in a more comprehensive priority”, he said. See also EUROPE 10359. (G.B./transl.rt)