In a joint debate, Members heard a presentation by the Commission of the first annual Report on the State of the Single Market Integration and considered amendments tabled to the draft initiative report of Andreas Schwab (EPP). The first edition of the Report seeks to reinforce the Single Market dimension in the Annual Growth Survey. The main barriers to a better Single Market functioning are identified in some key areas with the greatest growth potential, in particular: services, energy, transport and digital markets. Among the policy priorities, the Commission listed more ambitious implementation of the Services Directive, abolishment of the economic needs tests in the retail sector and improvement of the Points of Single Contact in services markets, as well as e-commerce, e-procurement and generally better implementation and enforcement of rules that are already in place.
Members welcomed the Commission's step towards reinforcing the Single Market dimension of the European Semester process which the Committee has been striving for in a number of its recent reports, and notably in the Schwab initiative report on governance. However, Members felt that the Commission should have better responded to Parliament's requests relating the annual Single Market governance cycle. Many Members also felt that not enough was done by the Commission to ensure that the full Single Market growth potential is unlocked and remaining obstacles to further integration removed by Member States.
IMCO committee will present its views on the Single Market dimension of the 2013 Annual Growth Survey and on the first edition of the Report on the state of the Single Market integration within in Schwab report. For this purpose, a supplementary deadline for amendments to the Schwab report was set on 6 December 2012.
Source : © European Union, 2012 - EP