Monti calls time on single market

Date: 02/10/1997

By Rory Watson

MEMBER states' commitment to completing the single market will be tested this weekend when they face tough questions about how they intend to plug the existing gaps over the next 15 months.

Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti has decided to put EU governments on the spot, as figures released this week show that only 70&percent; of all single market legislation is being fully implemented in all 15 member states.

“There is no point in member states agreeing to single market rules if they do not implement the necessary directives at national level within the deadlines they have set themselves. Member states have to demonstrate they are serious about meeting the very tight schedule,” he said.

The Commission's latest analysis shows only five member states (Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and the UK) have implemented 95&percent; or more of the 1,339 separate items of internal market legislation.

Bottom of the league come Austria, Germany and Belgium, which have transposed little more than 90&percent;. This confirms particular difficulties federal states have in ensuring EU rules are correctly applied at all levels of government.

The survey also underlines the uneven and patchwork way in which pan-European legislation designed to break down national barriers in different sectors is being put in place.

While measures on the free movement of goods such as motor vehicles, agricultural machinery and tractors and pharmaceuticals have almost a 100&percent; implementation rate, legislation to open up public procurements lags well behind at 70&percent;. Efforts to open up the regulated telecommunications and audio-visual sectors fare little better on 76&percent;.

Armed with these figures, Monti will use an informal meeting of EU internal market ministers which begins tomorrow (3 October) to remind governments of their commitments to make the single market a reality by January 1999. Under the action plan agreed at June's Amsterdam summit, each government should have given the Commission a timetable for implementing outstanding legislation and details of coordination centres for sorting out bilateral single market difficulties with other member states, by yesterday (1 October).