Brussels, 18/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 January, Mario Monti informed the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) that if they wanted an effective single market, the Commission should concentrate on three key areas of action to define its strategy in this field: appropriate application of European legislation; a balance between the markets and the social dimension and, finally, governance.
Monti referred to a report he presented to the European Commission and Council in 2010, for a new European single market strategy and was pleased that “to a large extent, the Commission has followed what was advocated in this report”. He regretted, however, that “it is, perhaps, the most important parts that have been followed” and highlighted the three points he believed essential for a successful European single market.
Monti considers that it is very urgent that they improve implementation and respect for European legislation on the internal market. This point has been very much prioritised by the new Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska (see EUROPE 11420). Drawing from his experience as Commissioner for the Internal Market and Competition, Monti considers that the tasks carried out by DG Internal Market should be aligned on those of DG Competition, in an effort to speed up infringement procedures against member states. According to the former Italian Prime Minister, “implementation of the single market is as important as introducing competition”.
The question of the balance between the markets and social questions was mentioned in second place. According to the analysis made by Monti, member states are divided into two categories: the first involves mainland European countries in the eurozone that tend to have a tradition of a social market economy, as opposed to a second category based on the market economy and for whom the internal market is the primary reason they joined the European project. In this connection, current tax competition, which leads to the lowest social common denominator, should be substituted by a policy of tax coordination, in an effort to limit “the mobility of corporate HQs that penalise unskilled workers”. He also believes that this coordination would constitute a real weapon in the fight against fraud and tax evasion. This proposal was immediately and very heatedly opposed by Daniel Dalton (ECR, United Kingdom). The latter asserted that the subject should definitely not even be up for discussion and that tax competition allowed dynamic economies to be competitive and member states should decide on the way their taxation operated on the basis of what they wanted to spend. These ideas were dismissed by the Greens MEP Pascal Durand (France), who said that tax competition was a “disaster” that denied member states “the possibility of taking action and creating a fairer world”.
Finally, governance was also lengthily discussed by Professor Monti. According to the latter, it is crucial that all the institutions refocus on the internal market. In this connection, the Commission should have a global approach that does not exclusively focus on implementing legislation but also on putting forward proposals. He is therefore proposing to reorganise the directorates general, the Parliamentary committees and reform the decision making processes at the Council but would not go into any further detail on these issues.
Mario Monti was particularly critical of the member states that sought to “mash up and reduce the legislative proposals into crumbs… Just a few years ago, member states saw the Union as an investment project… Now, Europe is seen as a consumer good by national leaders”. During these debates he explained that they were witnessing a political drift in Europe and that national leaders now only supported the cause of their respective political party and not that of the nation. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)