Brussels, 05/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Implementing the principles of the Constitution before it has been ratified? Certainly not, says the Commissioner designate for the Internal Market, the Irish Charlie McCreevy, in his written responses to prepare for his hearing at the Parliament on 7 October. Certainly, everything must be done to allow the Treaty to be ratified, but "I think that it would be a serious mistake to give the impression of pre-judging the results of the referendum", he replied to the MEPs. For the moment, Mr McCreevy is sticking mostly to the current Commission's line in all sectors related to the internal market. He subscribes to the objectives set by the internal market strategy 2003-206, as to the action plan for corporate governance presented by the Commission in May 2003. "I see no proposals in my portfolio which I feel should be withdrawn", he said.
Mr McCreevy pleads amongst other things for the "swift adoption" of one of the most controversial text of his competencies: the "services" directive, which is based on the principle of mutual recognition. The Commission designate remained vague on many of his future dossiers, such as the application of competition principles to the legal professions. He completely avoided questions on the patentability of software. On company law, he supports the current line, insisting on the co-ordination needed with the American regulatory authorities.
Whereas Spain and Germany have for years been at loggerheads on the linguistic regime of the future Community patent, Charlie McCreevy did not hesitate to set the cat among the pigeons. Basing himself on the Kik ruling by the Court of 9 September 2003, justifying the possibility to use just a limited number of languages in certain cases and stressing the need to keep the costs of the patent down, he said that it was "essential to avoid imposing constraints on the system, including the obligation to translate the patent, which would exceed what is really necessary and useful".
The Commissioner designate confirmed his liberal philosophy in his answers. "One of my ambitions is to put an end to the gulf between internal market policy on the one hand, and consumer policy on the other. An internal market which offers quality and choice at competitive prices is the result of a good policy. A bad policy is letting the Member States use consumer protection in such a way that it helps fragment the market", he explained.
Mr McCreevy pleaded for the principle of mutual recognition to be accepted, even if "harmonisation might be preferable in fields where mutual recognition would not provide the legal security the economic operators need to carry out activities on a Community scale".
When called upon to explain what he intends to do to simplify the legislation, he stressed that the Council and the Parliament also had their part to play in this process, assessing the impact of changes brought in during the legislative proceedings. Generally speaking, he is a proponent of pragmatism and transparency in his principles of governance.
Presenting his personal experience, the outgoing Finance Minister pointed out that the referendums in Ireland had given him "first-hand experience of the enormous difficulties of the brand image Europe presents even to a population which is very much in favour of Europe, such as Ireland". After 27 years of parliamentary and ministerial duties, he said that success in politics stems from consensus. "The Irish economic miracle would never have been possible without the successive partnership agreements with the social partners", he said. As for his previous professional experience, being an accounting expert has "given (him) the practical foundations in the business world and on the shop floor of businesses, especially SMEs".