Brussels, 07/05/2008 (Agence Europe) -Last year, the single market problem-solving network , SOLVIT, handled 819 problems encountered by individuals and businesses in exercising their single market rights, and resolved 679 of them (83%), the European Commission announced in a press release on Tuesday 6 May.
In the fifth year of its existence, SOLVIT saw a 75% increase in the volume of cases handled compared to 2006, and managed to keep resolution rates high and case handling times short. These figures are set out in the European Commission's annual SOLVIT report, which concludes that 2007 has been another successful year for SOLVIT, but also notes that staffing problems persist in several national SOLVIT centres. Several Member States are still not providing adequate resources to SOLVIT centres to allow them to engage in awareness-raising activities. Charlie McCreevy commented: "SOLVIT has proved its worth not only as a successful problem solving tool, but also as a model for administrative cooperation between Member States. It shows that it is possible, even within a complex multicultural organisation like the European Union, to shift from formal, time consuming procedures to an informal, pragmatic and fast track approach". He went on to note that "SOLVIT has proved its worth not only as a successful problem solving tool, but also as a model for administrative cooperation between Member States". For the text of the report, see: http: //ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/docs/2007finalreport_en.pdf. (O.L.)