Brussels, 02/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - To celebrate its 20th anniversary and to boost a European Union which is down on growth, the Commission will present its new Act for the single market on Wednesday 3 October - an Act II, entitled “Together for new growth”, which will put forward a dozen or so priorities and will try to re-boost the European economy. As already announced in April 2011, at the presentation of the first Act for the single market, this second generation Act will include a series of measures that are both legislative and non-legislative, and will focus on four main areas - setting up fully integrated networks in the single market (transport and energy networks); fostering mobility of citizens and businesses across borders; developing and supporting the digital economy across Europe; and strengthening social entrepreneurship, social cohesion, and preventing discrimination. The Commission gives itself until the end of 2013 to table all its proposals.
The proposals should mix a whole series of sectors, providing for example a stronger quality of transport or energy services for Europeans, via for example liberalisation in railway transport, the completion of the single European sky, or - as far as the digital agenda is concerned - the improvement of broadband services. The Commission will also lay emphasis on online payment services for consumers, and - as Michel Barnier indicated on 12 October at a press briefing - it will make proposals on the transparency of bank charges, access to a basic account, and banking mobility. For the “citizens” and social cohesion section, one of the ways expected will be, for example, to strengthen the European employment service, EURES.
This Act for the single market version 2 is awaited as a turning point by European businesses. On 31 August, BusinessEurope set its priorities and announced its intentions to Barnier. For European bosses, this new Act will have to facilitate business life and reduce their administrative burden a little, to focus on the smooth functioning of the single market - without necessarily introducing new legislation - and to emphasis sectors that are true bearers of growth. Among the concrete initiatives expected by the European business organisation are the reduction in the number of regulated professions, the removal of all unjustified obstacles to service providers, and the improvement in professional qualifications recognition procedures. In its letter, BusinessEurope also requested an international recast of the collective management system of copyright. (SP/transl.fl)