Brussels, 07/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Prioritising action to be taken by the Commission, deciding how best to deliver and developing synergies - these are the three major areas set out by Internal Market and Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska for improving the effectiveness of legislation in the internal market. She was speaking to BusinessEurope on Thursday 3 March.
In line with the desire of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for “Better regulation”, Commissioner Bienkowska said she wanted to “abandon the old approach”, which leads inevitably to various exceptions and, ultimately, to legislative fragmentation of the internal market.
This year, 23 priorities have been included in the Commission's work programme and, in similar vein, Bienkowska's DG has restricted itself to 23 priorities for 2016 in order to maximise the Commission's impact on the implementation of the single market strategy. In terms of how best to get things done, Bienkowska said that she favoured closer involvement of national and regional players in the legislative process. In this view, she joins the regions and cities (see EUROPE 11505). On 22 February, the commissioner met with the mayors of the Eurocities group to discuss public procurement rules. Lastly, argued the commissioner, it is time to break down the silos and exploit synergies between the various strategies (single market strategy, digital strategy, energy union).
Bienkowska provided three examples to illustrate the actions on which the Commission will focus this year: reform of copyright, the capital markets union, to encourage start-ups to break free of national borders; financial aid for construction companies under the Juncker investment plan; and tightening the regulatory framework for the motor vehicle industry to prevent any future emissions testing fraud.
Lastly, the commissioner highlighted compliance with and application of existing legislation and called on her audience to focus on the six initiatives set out in the single market strategy with a view to tightening application of European legislation. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)