Brussels, 09/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Good but could do better". This is how the European Commission's assessment may be summarised in its third annual report on the functioning of the Community markets of goods and capitals. Thus, consumers, like business, continue to benefit greatly from the increased integration of the European Union's internal market. But, "economic reforms must be deepened and accelerated, otherwise the additional prospects for growth offered by new technologies will be passed by", the European Executive warns. This observation, made on several occasions, recently, in the field of financial services, is extended to other fields of the European economy: environmental and health protection, public procurement, public service companies, network industries, etc.. Generally-speaking, the Commission believes that the European economy is "still too set", which impedes its global performance. "Important political initiatives have already been taken to create a more dynamic environment for companies and to enter the new economy (…) but we must still do more and, between now and the European Summit in the spring, in Stockholm, work together to take decisions that will speed-up the reforms", the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Frits Bolkestein insists.
The report, presented in Brussels on Tuesday, pays particular attention, this year, to the impact of economic reforms on consumers. "We reach two main conclusions", a Commission civil servant, summarised during a press conference: "There remain certain barriers to cross border transactions, notably due to the complexity of regulations in the destination countries, and the margin for manoeuvre is still important to improve the situation, for example in the field of company services: accounting, engineering, the recruitment of workers, etc." The 48% of EU companies that propose cross-border services thus only make 10% of their turnover in European countries other than their State of origin. "The possibilities of development are, from that point of view, real", noted a civil servant.
According to the European Commission, the benefits of market integration are notably felt at the level of convergence and stabilisation of prices that are a result, in particular in the field of services. "In the sector of public services and network industries, the economic reforms have pushed prices downwards", it feels: telecommunications are now cheaper, and consumers have, these last few years, seen the electricity bills fall in many countries (Austria, Spain, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom), up to 15%. "It has been seen that the opening of markets to competition does not block the maintaining of general interest services (…) As a result, there is no reason to further delay the opening to competition of postal services, energy, transports and communications markets", it emphasises in its report.
However, the fall in prices does not in itself suffice, and specific policy measures are still necessary at certain levels. "Greater consumer confidence in cross border acquisitions could significantly strengthen the performance of product and capital markets" in fields like food safety, sustainable development or crossborder payments, writes the Commission. Generally speaking, it considers that the manufactured products markets have reached a satisfactory degree of integration. It calls, however, for a little acceleration in the sectors of financial services, public procurement (the percentage of crossborder public markets on all these markets has remained stable at 10% since 1994), and for improvements to the conditions of financing and the regulatory environment of enterprises. "The activation of economic reforms may require accelerated procedures, as the Lamfalussy group (on regulation of the European securities market) recently proposed", it continues, stating that it takes on average more than four years between the date when the Commission submits a proposal and the official date when it is transposed into internal law.
The full text of the report is available on the Europa website: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market