Single market obstacles unveiled

Date: 06/03/1997

WHEN ordinary members of the public are making up their minds about whether the European Union is, on balance, a good or bad thing, the question they are most likely to ask themselves is 'what is in it for me?'

That is why the forthcoming report by a panel of experts who have spent the past year looking into the obstacles faced by those wishing to take advantage of their right to live and work in any EU member state is so important.

The ability to move freely around the Union is one of the key benefits of membership of the Euro-club and one which is being taken up by a quarter of a million more people every year. But doing so is not easy, even at the best of times, and can in some cases be nightmarishly difficult, as the panel chaired by former European Parliament President Simone Veil will underline when it presents its report later this month.

In addition to the bureaucratic red tape which people have to cut through when setting up home in a country other than their own, many come up against insurmountable hurdles in transferring pre-retirement pensions and benefits abroad, while others have to find their way through a complex financial maze in order to avoid paying taxes twice.

Stories about the problems confronting those with professional or academic qualifications which are not recognised in other member states are also legion. The difficulties faced by foreign university lecturers in Italy and non-French ski instructors who want to teach on the country's slopes are just two examples which have been highlighted by this newspaper in the past.

All this makes a mockery of the single market, which is supposed to make it as easy for EU citizens to move between member states as it is from one town to another in the same country.

The importance that ordinary people attach to this right is reflected in the enormous number of requests for information lodged with the Commission since the launch of its 'Citizens First' campaign last year - and the fact that 5.5 million people have already taken up the opportunity to live and work in another member state.

That is why the Veil group's recommendations must be taken seriously. As Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti said this week, another broad-brush commitment by EU leaders to complete the single market by the new 1 January 1999 deadline will not be enough.

Both ordinary individuals and companies are looking to EU governments to demonstrate that they mean what they say. Champions of the cause of greater integration would do well to take note.