Brussels, 13/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Following the annual examination of growth in the EU (see other article), the European Commission has also evaluated the integration of the single market. Its examination reveals that, although European legislation on financial services, the digital market and transport have been transposed by the member states, this is by no means the case in the energy sector. The Commission also urges better application of the services directive by the member states and awaits more reforms.
The Commission stresses that a more “ambitious” application of this services directive “alone would make it possible to generate an additional increase of 0.6 to 2.6% of GDP” and suggests reforms in several countries. Indeed, the use of “one-stop shops” should be more extended and improved (Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Romania), and barriers need to be removed in retail trade (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary and Spain) and for access to the regulated professions (Austria, Germany and France). Additionally, procedures for calls for tender for public services should be simplified (Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta and Romania).
As regards financial services, the Commission is not impressed with the level of market fragmentation, which has increased since the crisis. It stresses the need for the strict application of new rules on requirements for banks' own resources and requirements for transfers and direct debits in euro since 2014. The European executive is also putting pressure on the national monitoring authorities to coordinate their actions in the event of the application of restrictive prudential measures. The institution is therefore laying emphasis on access to funding for SMEs, as expensive loans have “contributed to the drastic reduction of the total volume of funding for the real economy”, it notes.
The major difficulty appears to involve the energy market, with no fewer than seven member states still not having transposed the directives from the third energy package (Poland, Slovenia, Finland, Estonia, Romania, Ireland and Lithuania). The Commission has prioritised work on the gas and electricity network connections in an effort to guarantee security of supply (recommendations to 13 countries in 2013). It is recommending greater freedom for consumers and an end to price regulation (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania) and preventing subsidies that have unnecessary and disproportionate effects on the ability of households and companies to pay their fuel bills.
In the transport field, the Commission is critical of the delays to transposing certain legislation and notes, particularly, “persistent barriers” to rail integration and fragmentation in the aviation domain. Finally, the Commission underlines the good results achieved in the digital sector, even if, greater take-up of broadband internet services still needs to be encouraged further. The Commission is calling for spectrum frequency bands to be allocated more swiftly, for a cyber-security strategy to be adopted and greater emphasis to be put on online public services and reducing costs and deadlines when submitting trademark and patent applications. (MD/transl.fl)