Brussels, 17/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Only 20 initiatives out of 36 foreseen for the completion of the internal market will be completed in the given time, by the end of the year, notes the European Commission in its Communication on "The 2001 review of the Internal market strategy - Working together to maintain momentum", published on 17 April. In this second update of the "Strategy for the Internal Market" defined during the Helsinki Summit in December 1999, the European executive proposes a new series of priorities to be achieved before the end of the year or by December 2002, by insisting in particular for the continuation of liberalisation: of public procurement, postal services, gas and electricity, or of passenger transport. Recognising the need to answer the citizen's expectations, the Commission undertook to present, by the end of the year, proposals notably on the transfer of pensions, the recognition of diplomas or food safety.
The Commission notes that only 56% of the measures announced should be achieved in time, which represents a "disappointing result". Progress has certainly been achieved, it admits, when citing the regulatory framework for electronic commerce, the status of the European company approved after 30 years of debate, the taxation package or the recent adoption of the Directive of the rights of intellectual property. On the other hand, it chastises the delays recorded by the European Parliament in adopting proposals on the opening of public procurement markets, or the Council for adopting the Community patent.
The Commission again criticises the delays in transposing European legislation into Member State law. Only Denmark, Sweden and Finland have kept to the objective fixed in the internal market strategy to bring their transposition deficit down to 1.5% in December 2000. France, Greece and Portugal, on the other hand, still have the worst rate of transposition. It is pointless for the Community to establish a legislative framework if Member States do not set national legislation in place allowing our citizens and our companies to take advantage of the possibilities provided by the internal market, said Commissioner Bolkestein. He specified that, to date, over 12% of internal market legislation has not been implemented in one or more Member States. The Commission henceforth calls on Member States to reduce their transposition deficit by at least half by the end of the year.
The Commission fixes 80 priorities for completing the internal market in order to:
Improve the effectiveness of the Community's markets for capital, products and services by adopting, - by December 2001, the measures concerning electronic communications, postal services, the liberalisation of the gas and electricity markets; - by June 2002, the 6th research framework programme and the directives on prospectuses; - by December 2002 the measures concerning air traffic slots, pension funds, and distance selling of financial services. It also announces a package of measures for the liberalisation of rail passenger transport, a strategy on biotechnology and the creation of the European Committee on Securities and of the European Securities Regulation Committee, as well as the revision of the framework for State aid for research and development by June 2002.
Improving company environment, by adopting; - by December 2001, new legislation on public procurement, the modernisation of the VAT system in electronic billing; - by June 2002 new legislation implementing anti-trust rules (Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty). The Commission confirms, among other things, that by December 2002 it will have drawn up an inventory of barriers to cross-border trade in services.
Improving the quality of life of citizens, by adopting by December 2001: 1) the regulation establishing the European Food Authority; 2 ) the regulation on coordinating social security systems; 3) proposals on European Associations, cooperative and mutual companies; 4) the legal framework for the "single European sky" and the European Air Safety Agency. Member States are urged to ensure that the European extra-judicial network is operational by December 2001.
The Commission is committed to presenting by December 2001 proposals to guarantee more extensive recognition of professional qualifications, a proposal on the transferability of complementary pension rights, and a regulation on controls of food and animal feed.
Exploiting the external dimension of the internal market: the Commission is, notably, calling on the Council and European Parliament to adopt a regulation by the end of the year on implementing international accountancy standards, a new regulatory framework on the adequacy of own-funds for banks and investment firms, and a directive on VAT on supplies of electronic commerce. (The Communication is available on the Commission's Internet site: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/update/strategy/review01.htm)