Brussels, 07/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - Pierre Wathelet, Honorary Professor at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and former European official, has urged the European Commission to use the instruments that the Treaty has placed at its disposal to ban or abolish certain distortions to competition in the single market. He is, in particular, referring to the relocation of companies due to tax advantages and certain bids. According to the professor, the articles of the Treaty that could be used are Art. 96 (former Article 101) and 97 (formerly 102) of the Amsterdam Treaty. These provisions provide the Commission with the possibility of intervening, firstly by entering into consultations with the Member State whose legislation causes distortions, and then (if consultations fail) by proposing appropriate measures to the Council; the Council then statues through a qualified majority. In case of new national provisions, or changes to existing provisions, the Commission may make "recommendations".
In an article published in the review "Gauche Européenne - Nuova Europa", Prof. Wathelet observes that these two procedures have never been applied because "governments have no wish to be subjected to such an examination of their legislation", and the Commission fears entering into conflict with governments. He acknowledges that in other fields the Commission has dared to do so, for example, for State aid. But presently, "company relocations to more clement tax shies have become a critical aspect of the internal market", and the Commission should consider Art. 96 as a perfectly useable instrument, instead of occasionally indicating, in a communication or another of a general nature, that this instrument does in fact exist. According to Prof- Wathelet, an instrument similar to the one that exists in the realm of technical standards and regulations should be introduced, with Member States having to inform the European authorities of their legislative projects and initiatives, in view of remedying one-off, concrete distortions to competition, through the application of Articles 96 and 97.