Brussels, 03/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the Competitiveness Council on 2 March, the member states examined the results from the “Front Runners” initiatives. These initiatives were launched in May 2014 by four member states (Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The projects seek to improve the way the internal market functions in a number of member states by way of introducing concrete action.
In this connection, four projects were set up: the 'Cross-border e-commerce' project monitoring barriers to purchasing and online business (this involves Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom); the 'Single Market Centre' that involves the setting up of a single administrative contact point to resolve single market related questions (Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom); the 'Points of single contact' project draws up a list of best practices (Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden); the 'Regulated professions' project introduces a methodology for better European recognition of professions regulated in each state (United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden and Norway).
The countries involved in these projects welcomed the initial results, which they said could help “contribute to a more integrated European Single Market”. They also promised to continue with the introduction of these kinds of action.
Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the Latvian minister for the economy, said that “these initiatives have been successful. They really correspond to the agenda”. The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Elzbieta Bienkowska, explained that this work was “more on the ground, it is very important for our future work on the single market strategy”.
Another miscellaneous point at the Council focused on a point of information from the European Commission on the consultation regarding the “Small Business Act”, completed last December. Commissioner Bienkowska explained that in this regard she would be “proposing concrete measures at the next Council”. (Jean Comte)