Brussels, 30/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - Gambling companies are expressing disappointment that the European Commission has not been able to grasp the political nettle and send various member states to the European Court of Justice more than a year after infringement proceedings were launched against them (see EUROPE 9686). This attitude runs counter to the desire of EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy himself, who has expressed frustration at the slow progress in the seven infringement proceedings, which had reached the reasoned opinion stage when McCreevy addressed MEPs on the European Parliament's internal market committee at the start of June 2008.
Gambling is testing the European Commission's capacity to resist pressure from national protectionists and more generally, it is the functioning and credibility of the Commission as guardian of the treaties that is at stake, explained Clive Hawskwood, the director general of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA). Sigrid Ligné, the secretary general of the European Gambling and Betting Association (EGBA), speaks from the same page, noting that every missed opportunity to take uncooperative member states to the Court of Justice damages the internal market, restricts consumer choice, leads to additional costs, and is hugely damaging to many European companies. The disappointment of EU gambling and betting companies is being echoed in the political world by Danish Liberal MEP Karin Riis-Jørgensen, who is unhappy with the European Commission's behaviour in a court case where the Commission is opposing the Danish public gambling and betting operator. The case was initially due to be heard at the European Court of Justice on 4 June 2008, but this was then postponed to 25 June 2008, she explains in a press release. She regretted that the European Commission was fully prepared to take a case to the Court of Justice over the Danish monopoly over gambling while higher political powers are pulling in the opposite direction to prevent these proceedings from advancing.
Economic operators in the gambling industry quote a special report from the European Ombudsman, in which he says that the Commission should not postpone the processing of a complaint due to inability to find political consensus about how to proceed. He says the Commission should therefore process the complaint in a diligent manner without unjustified delays (see EUROPE 9210) (M.B./transl.fl)