Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-21-Speech-1-028-000"
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"en.20120521.14.1-028-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, firstly, I would like to thank Mr Busuttil for the work that he has done personally on this report, with the support and understanding of all the members of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) – I am referring to Malcolm Harbour and the coordinator, whom I would also like to thank.
This first review paves the way for a communication that we will publish during the next European Council in June – since the Council had invited us anyway – on possible ways of enhancing the proper implementation of internal market legislation.
For me, two main aspects form the outline of this communication: the implementation of this legislation and growth. We, Parliament and the Commission, cannot draw up new rules if we are not concerned about them being properly implemented on the ground. Legislation which is not implemented is not only useless, it is often counterproductive. It creates imbalances between one country and its neighbours, who themselves are able to implement it correctly. It penalises growth and job creation by limiting opportunities for citizens and companies. That is why we proposed, in the framework of the Single Market Act, to lower the ‘allowable’ deficit in the transposition of those rules in the Member States from 1% to 0.5%. I am pleased that Mr Busuttil has echoed this proposal. We cannot content ourselves with an average European transposition deficit of 1.2% and even a figure of 1.7% in one Member State.
The Commission is currently leading a number of steps, together with the Member States, to improve and rationalise the implementation of internal market legislation. That is also why, honourable Members, I have visited each of the Member States’ capital cities – as I promised to do before Parliament – to meet with the national officials responsible for all internal market legislation (the Services Directive, the Professional Qualifications Directive, the Public Procurement Directive, the
Commerce Directive, etc.) in order to have direct contact with them. We have therefore set up a task force of 700 officials who are responsible for this body of legislation within the different Member States in order to work more confidently and efficiently.
I will continue this tour of the capital cities by now going beyond capitals and into each region, since, in economic terms, there are companies, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, local authorities and actors in each region that are important for the single market. I will report on the first conclusions from this tour of capital cities and countries in my communication in June.
To conclude, we think that these tools for the internal market, these assistance and information instruments, must truly benefit citizens and companies. We have a certain number of tools that have been developed to offer greater transparency and clarity in terms of information. However, some of these tools have been developed in a slightly disorganised way. Today, we must therefore put things back on track together and make them more effective.
We shall continue to develop the Your Europe portal with a guide for citizens and companies on how to use Europe. Like you, I would also particularly like to improve in each of the Member States the functioning of SOLVIT, an online problem solving tool and a European network of national administrations which, in my view, is a priority.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the single market this year. It had already been said that this anniversary should not be nostalgic or melancholic, especially at the moment. It should be dynamic and proactive for the growth that citizens expect, with concrete benefits for their daily lives. That is also the spirit of this pact for better governance of the single market, which we are calling on Member States to provide.
Everyone has their part to play – governments, Parliament, the Council and, of course, the Commission – and I insist we must make this 20th anniversary the time for a new dynamic, a new boost for the single market. That is why I also hope that we can talk about this transparently and sincerely, not only among ourselves, but also with the actors in each of our countries, whom I mentioned a moment ago. That will be the spirit of this single market week, when we will again take up the idea of the forum that we successfully put in place in Kraków on your initiative, but by developing it in each of the Member States, during the week of 15 to 20 October 2012, over the course of which we will solemnly mark the 20th anniversary of the single market in Parliament, but we will also debate what is going well and what is not going well in each of the Member States. How can we remove some of the obstacles? How can we avoid fragmentation? How can we together quickly implement these 50 proposals that we have cited in the Single Market Act? How can we draw up new proposals based on those you will draw up yourselves?
As you can see, we have a great deal of work to do on the single market at this time. That will be my priority as far as I am concerned, along with you, and that is also what the citizens expect because there is currently a great demand to restore employment, competitiveness and growth, with all the risks I mentioned earlier about returning to nationalism or protectionism.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are at a serious time of crisis – the financial crisis which has not ended, and the economic crisis which has many human, social and economic consequences. In this time of crisis, as we can clearly see, Mr President, many citizens are suffering and are affected by unemployment. Many are angry and they are expressing that anger, and the internal market that we are talking about in Mr Busuttil’s report finds itself in a rather paradoxical situation whereby it could, if we are not careful, become the first victim of this anger, of the return to nationalism and, at times, nationalist reflexes, the first victim of protectionism. At the same time, the internal market, the single market, is our best chance, our main asset for getting out of the crisis, if it can function more smoothly. That is why what we have done, with Parliament’s support, since the Monti report, since the Grech report – this act for the single market, an integral part of which is governance, these 50 proposals and soon, Mr President, a dozen new proposals to restart the competitive social market economy – must, in my view, form part of the European growth strategy that the Heads of State or Government will debate this week.
I think, and I have thought for a long time, that the sound management of public finances, on the one hand, and growth, on the other – in particular, growth with the internal market – are not only compatible but must be managed together.
That is why I am pleased that Mr Busuttil has emphasised how much potential the internal market has for growth. We believe that if it were to work better in terms of mobility, exports, trade, investment, social entrepreneurship, services and
commerce, we could seek out two, three or four extra growth points within our internal market ourselves.
That is what internal market governance is really about: improving the functioning of this space, which is home to 500 million citizens and consumers and 22 million companies, the vast majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises. As long as they want to participate in this internal market, these citizens and these small and medium-sized enterprises need more efficient tools closer to home. That is what we want to do with SOLVIT, with the Your Europe portal, with EU Pilot, with the Internal Market Information system (IMI), too, and the European Consumer Centres.
This governance work starts with the scoreboard, that is, the snapshot of what works and what does not, this scoreboard that we produce with the Commission twice a year. This scoreboard gives us an accurate view of the transposition and implementation of internal market legislation in each Member State. It needs to work more efficiently, with figures that more or less speak for themselves, figures that are an incentive for Member States to keep up their efforts. The Busuttil report highlights this too.
Honourable Members, this internal market scoreboard is not the only string to our bow; it is not the only tool that we have when it comes to following internal market rules for European citizens.
This crisis that I mentioned just a moment ago is challenging us to learn from certain deficiencies in each of our Member States and to find a way to make new efforts.
That is how committed we are. We are striving for transparency and greater cooperation with you in Parliament and with the Member States in order to review the governance of the single market year on year. We did this for the first time on 27 February."@en1
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