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Image header Agence Europe
Europe Daily Bulletin No. 8902
Contents Publication in full By article 12 / 52
GENERAL NEWS / (eu) eu/internal market/services

Commission hopes to iron out differences of opinion within College

Brussels, 04/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - A spokesperson for the European Commission said on Friday that Commissioners Charlie McCreevy, responsible for the Internal Market and Services and Günter Verheugen, in charge of Industry and Enterprise, “are working together ahead of the forthcoming Competitiveness Council”, and that “there is no difference of approach” between them on the directive on services in the internal market. The Commission, she said, has taken a unanimous decision in favour of the liberalisation of services, whilst recognising that the proposal on the table is not without its problems. In the press room, Charlie McCreevy outlined his ideas on Thursday to get the dossier back on track, without which he feels it will not “fly high” (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8). Mr McCreevy pointed out that he had inherited the proposed directive from the Prodi Commission, and that he was the Irish Minister for Finance at the time. He also referred to the attitude of various Commissioners “speaking out of both sides of the mouth”, which was interpreted as a reference to differences between Günter Verheugen's stance when, as a member of the Prodi Commission, he approved his colleague Frits Bolkestein's proposal of January 2004 and the more cautious one he currently defends.

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