Brussels, 15/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Council has once more underlined that completion of the single market must be spurred on, further to the Spring Summit on 14 and 15 March. The EU27, however, called out loud and clear that it was absolutely necessary to ease the burden of European and national legislations.
Single market. The EU27 are pressing for work to be concluded on Act I for the Single Market. This is a crucial element for doing away with barriers, consolidating the single market and boosting competitiveness. The Council gives pride of place to public procurement, posted workers, compatibility, staff qualification and the electronic signature. For the Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, however, taxation also deserves more attention. He said: “A strong push is especially needed on key tax files like energy taxation, common consolidated corporate tax base, revision of the savings tax directive and the agreements with third countries”. This last point is especially dear to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said it was important to fight tax evasion and that they would speak about it at the G8.
The Commission should also present, without delay, the remaining proposals of Act II for the Single Market. The Council states its ambition to proceed rapidly to its analysis with a view to adopting it before the end of the legislature. Generally speaking, the Council is pushing for improvement in the application of all single market legislation, including the services directive. Nonetheless, the French president, François Hollande, said “Europe is not just a market or a currency. Industrial strategy is necessary”.
Simplification. The heads of government believe that additional measures should aim to do away with all these barriers. On the basis of recent Commission communications on “smart regulation”, the member states and the Commission should move forward. Efforts should mainly focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is a crucial point for David Cameron who is pleased that the Commission has already identified the barriers that have the greatest impact on SMEs. The Council has mandated the Commission, he said, “to set out in June how they are going to reduce these burdens”. He added that “unnecessary EU rules need to be reversed”, before going on to say: “We need an EU that does not over-regulate. In fact, we need an EU that starts to take regulation off, and, with the Commission, we are starting to see improvements on that front”.
Hollande, for his part, underlined that, when it comes to simplification, it is necessary to ensure there is consistency between work done on the national and European fronts. He also explained that the Commission will be presenting a report in September on obsolete and pointless European texts and underlined that this should not bring into question either labour rights or the environment.
Barroso was grateful for the support shown by the Council along this road and commented that his institution, the Commission, has “just launched a major regulatory fitness exercise for our administration, called REFIT”.
Other thematic debates. It should be noted that, during its next meetings, the Council will hold thematic discussions on key aspects for growth and competitiveness. Energy will, therefore, be on the agenda of the summit in May, innovation and the digital agenda in October, and finally defence in December. (MD/transl.jl)