Brussels, 30/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - Eleven liberal member states believe that the services and digital sectors should be liberalised more in order to boost growth and employment in Europe. “We should focus on a limited number of actions in a few key sectors which will have a highly positive impact on growth and which are vital for the improved functioning of the single market. Generally speaking, we believe that action in two key areas should be priority: the services sector and the digital single market”, they state in a joint non-paper presented on Wednesday 30 May at the Competitiveness Council lunch on recovery proposals for the single market anticipated for the autumn, and of which EUROPE has had sight (our translation).
For services, the 11 countries recommend action to: - remove unjustified barriers to the establishment of cross-border services; - improve the points of single contact; - boost fair competition and cross-border operations in the retail markets and sub-sectors such as business services and construction; - establish “proportionality tests” as a tool when analysing the rules governing services and regulated professions. As regards the digital sector, they recommend a “simple and flexible” European framework for electronic commerce, mobile commerce, e-public procurement, e-invoicing, e-government services and the next generation of internet infrastructure. The 11 countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom) attended a meeting of 15 countries in Vilnius in April on future reforms of the single market. (MB/transl.fl)