Brussels, 11/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - Will the review of the internal market strategy mean the launch of legislative initiatives? “Only when absolutely necessary,” said Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, whose belief is that “Less is more”. Speaking in Thun (Switzerland) on 10 September at a conference, part of a series organised by the think tank Wolfsberg, which belongs to Swiss bank UBS AG, Mr McCreevy said that the areas of greatest potential had to be identified, areas such as “energy, information technology, consumer protection, health, research and development … markets for payments and retail banking or insurance”, where “a little action can produce enormous benefit”.
Mr McCreevy also wants to focus his attention on the “management of the single market”, and particularly defining a new governance of the single market - more decentralised and making greater use of networks - to strengthen the ownership of the single market for both European institutions and member states. “'Brussels' alone cannot deliver this project,” he said, and he called for the creation of a “partnership with the member states at all levels: when making policy, when implementing and applying the rules on the ground, and when developing effective means of redress and problem-solving for citizens who cannot exercise their single market rights”.
The commissioner also spoke of the “”international dimension” of the internal market. “It is clear that we need to re-position the single market. The focus needs to change from removing internal borders to becoming, on the one hand, a springboard for European companies in the world, and making Europe an attractive place in which to invest, on the other”. He spoke of dialogue with “United States, Japan … China, India, Russia and Brazil,” third countries with which regulatory dialogue had to be begun or deepened. Mr McCeevy said that this kind of dialogue provided the opportunity to show citizens that the internal market is not a “Trojan horse for globalisation,” with Europe being an important player on the world stage. “If, for instance, the EU adopts new environmental standards for cars, all manufacturers world-wide need to meet them, so there is a good chance that the EU standards will become global standards,” he said. (mb)