Brussels, 24/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU member states are still finding it difficult to transpose Community regulations on the internal market into their national law within the given deadlines. The European Parliament is afraid that this could hamper economic recovery and its non-binding resolution, adopted on Tuesday 22 May, has subsequently called for fast-track infringement procedures and an independent internal market prosecutor with the power to introduce infringement proceedings.
This resolution constitutes one of the EP's responses to the Commission's 2011 Internal Market Scoreboard which reveals persistent “transposition deficit”. MEPs insist that member states formally accept a reduction in the stated objectives, limiting the transposition deficit, and a reduction in compliance with national legislation to 0.5%.
In an amendment submitted by the rapporteur Simon Busuttil (EPP, Malta), the Parliament now calls on the Commission to guarantee that infringements to EU legislation be swiftly penalised and requests the implementation of a fast track infringement procedure through a single market prosecutor. The current length of infringement procedure (more than two years or indeed more) is too long, MEPs claim. They also explain that the prosecutor should have sufficient independence to begin infringement proceedings free from political pressure. Infringement procedures will, however, have to have the approval of the college of commissioners. (OL/transl.fl)