Brussels, 21/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has endorsed the political interinstitutional agreement on the three legislative proposals aimed at strengthening the free movement of goods (see EUROPE 9601). For each of these texts, it took up the agreement in a single amendment jointly submitted by the political groups EPP-ED, PES, ALDE and Greens/EFA. To be officially adopted, the legislative package has yet to receive Council endorsement.
On Tuesday during plenary debate, MEPs had stressed the need for consumer safety, greater responsibility on the part of importers, and “CE marking”. They highlighted the progress that would be made with such a package. Some opinions were, however, mitigated. For Spanish Socialist Manuel Medina Ortega, this is only a very small step forward and he urged for a real certificate of European quality. Swedish Socialist Anna Hedh supports this analysis, saying that reinforced CE marking alone will not resolve all the problems. Andreas Schwab (EPP-ED, Germany) invited member states to make sure they understand what they are committing themselves to, or they could have a bad surprise in store. It is essential that EU countries fully shoulder their responsibilities, confirmed Dutch Liberal Toine Manders and Zita Plastinska (EPP-ED, Slovenia). It is mainly the responsibility of importers that is at stake, said French Socialist Bernadette Vergnaud and Belgian Liberal Frédérique Ries. Some MEPs, like Barbara Weiler (PES, Germany) expressed astonishment that some obstacles to the free movement of goods were persistent. Others, like Belgian Socialist Mia De Vits, called for strict criteria for ensuring respect of legislation. And Kathy Sinnott (INF/DEM, Ireland) posed the concrete problem of products with a short life cycle, such as the micro-wave oven, that have to be bought every two years as, once they have gone wrong, it is not worth repairing them - thus creating a large amount of waste. (M.B.)