On Friday, 25 October, the three Presidencies of the EU Council (Romania, Finland and Croatia) made a series of suggestions to the High Level Working Group on Competitiveness and Growth about finding ways of improving enforcement of the single market, with a view to developing a long-term action plan.
In conjunction with the Finnish Presidency's document for a long-term strategy to support sustainable growth (see EUROPE 12336/4) and the strategic agenda 2019-2024 (see EUROPE 12279/1), the objective of this document is to encourage debate to improve the way in which the “effective and uniform” application and enforcement of European rules can be guaranteed.
The trio suggests “improving” the Single Market Enforcement Partnership between Member States and the European Commission by strengthening cooperation between national competent authorities. The trio believes that the Commission could play a facilitating role by broadening networks and providing new tools for information exchange. The Commission could publish new guidelines to give Member States a better steer.
The trio also believes that the partnership could be strengthened using the Commission's infringement policy, which could make better use of the EU Pilot mechanism when examining cases where national legislation does not comply with Community law. The document also states that the transparency of the criteria for opening formal infringement proceedings could be improved.
The trio argues that another option would be for Member States to empower specific national authorities to monitor the work of the national authority responsible for correctly applying Community law. To address deficiencies, these authorities would be independent and would have the power to initiate proceedings before the national administration or national courts against the competent national authority. The trio provides examples of independent administrative authorities that specialise in monitoring in specific areas of the single market (public procurement, data protection, equality, etc.).
To consult the document, go to: http://bit.ly/2BUpjNw (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)